Four young people describe how The Relatives shelter in Charlotte helped them escape homelessness and abuse. The OnRamp resource center taught them job skills and resume building, while the Road to Hire program offered life coaching and public speaking training. One participant is now pursuing a medical degree.
I first left my home when I was 9. Dad was in and out of jail. I really didn't have, you know, the support from parents like other kids had. Like, I'm 9 years old, you know, waking myself up for school, going to school by myself. I'm getting off the bus by myself, making sure I eat, if I did eat that night. From 9 years old, I moved with my aunt, which was another bad situation. I was mistreated there, abused mentally, physically. It felt like prison. That's how bad it was. And I would just sit in the room and just cry and ask God, why am I going through this?
My mom, she put us at the Relatives and she was staying like in different shelters. I was at the Relatives 3 years prior and I was going through a lot. I went to behavioral health and I came to the Relatives just basically to take a break from home. Miss Audrey. She's, she's like a mother figure, like, like my mom when she's not here. Make sure that I'm okay, and not only like in school, but like emotionally too. Like somebody to talk to.
I was 17, and I was pregnant. I knew that my mom and dad were gonna freak out. So I ran away. There were flyers in our high school on the bulletin board about the relatives if you needed a safe place to go. I remember walking up on the steps and it was— it had been raining all that morning and it was just depressing. And I knew that My mom would wake up and find my note that I had left, and immediately when I walked in the front door of this house 42 years ago, I knew I was gonna be okay.
The most important thing that the relatives has done to me, for me, is give me somewhere safe to stay and giving me support.
I really didn't have any answers. That's when I first came to the relatives. Well, they have a resource center called OnRamp. So around that time, I'm like 15, so like I was getting older and I'm like, oh, I need a job. So they have a resource center where you can get help with jobs, housing, things of that nature. So I would go there like You know, after school, like every day, and try to get involved with them. So they helped me with, like, my first ever resume, me applying to jobs, me, you know, getting ready for interviews, like the wrongs, the right things to do. So they still help me to this day.
I come to OnRamp once a week, and I bring lunch. and just basically hang out with the kids. They are all excited to eat when I get here. This is probably their only hot meal during the week, and so I always try to bring something hot and healthy because I feel like they're my kids. You know, when it rains outside, I think about them sleeping outside, if it's cold, if it's hot. When I drive around Charlotte, I see so many more homeless people than I ever saw before. It just has opened my eyes a lot to the suffering that's going on all around us. Just walking in the door and seeing their faces, feeling the love from them, seeing their tenacity, their hope, their Their humor, their love of life, and just knowing that OnRamp is going to help them have a better future.
I stayed here. I got a room upstairs, and they showed me my bed, and it was right next to the window, which was out here. And this was in 1975. And I know that had I not walked up on these steps, I probably would have been dead somewhere because I thought it was at the end. And I knew, I knew it was going to be okay. I knew it was.
I'm in the Road to Hire program. Basically, they get young adults, they give them personal development skills. Help with resumes, public speaking, and things of that nature. They don't just teach you, like, things to get you ready for the job, but, like, life lessons. I just want to be successful. Like, I just want to be in a place where I'm happy and, you know, I could be stress-free.
I'm finishing up my last year at CPCC right now. I want to be a doctor because they make good money. Yeah. And I like helping people. I'm good at math. I'm really good at math. I'm good at noticing my problems and fixing them.
I tell people about this place all the time. I have friends that donate clothes here now and canned food. And, uh, I just can't say enough about this place. There's a piece of my heart and life in this house. And I just want to thank them so much. This place saved my life.
