“My faith has grown like never before!”

Thank you for helping Shante find healing and hope.

Shante has endured a lot of suffering and heartbreak.

After growing up in a loving family, she said she couldn’t believe that years later, she would find herself and her children facing homelessness.

Shante chooses not to share all the details of her journey. But she says she knew she needed to “heal from trauma and disappointments and deal with a lot of stuff that I went through in my life.”

“I knew it was time to go.”

She also knew that she needed to move her children out of their dangerous apartment to a safe place. “It was a bad area to live in,” she says. “When we first moved in, it painted a pretty picture, but later on, it just got bad. There were dead bodies and all kinds of crazy stuff happening. Me being the mom, I knew it was time for us to go.”

Shante also knew she needed help. That’s how she and her three kids found their way to Atlanta Mission.

“We were treated with respect.”

“When we first got here,” Shante says, “my family and I were greeted with open arms. We were treated with respect. We were treated like we were human beings.”

She was quickly assigned an advocate, a counselor, and a social worker to help her overcome the root causes of her homelessness and work towards independent living.

“All my team members show sympathy, they show empathy,” says Shante. “They don’t tell me what I want to hear but tell me what I need to hear in order to stay afloat. I actually tell them daily that ‘I appreciate y’all.’”

Getting closer to God

“I’ve dealt with a lot of traumas, hurt, and a lot of things that… I mean, we can’t control life, right?” says Shante. “So, we experience these things that come towards our way, but it’s how we deal with it. I use my connection with God.”

“So, while I’m in my room with my children, I’m able to pray,” says Shante. “I’m able to just cry out to Him and just give Him all of my worries. I’m able to just have more of that one-on-one time with Him.”

“I thought I was leaning on God on the outside, but I’m definitely leaning on Him while I’m here. So, that’s another thing—yes, my faith has grown like never before.”

“You’re going to find the healing you need”

Shante is looking forward to a time soon when she will be able to move with her children into their own place, go back to work, and one day maybe even own her own business.

“You come here and you’re going to find the healing you need,” she says. “You’re also going to learn how to be self-sufficient. You’re going to get the help you need so that when you go back out, you’re going to know how to cope, because you’re going to have that healing.”

Virtual Academy

Helping kids keep up in school while mothers make progress

Meeting the Challenge

The pandemic brought new challenges for mothers staying at My Sister’s House, our shelter for women and children. Classes and service activities for the women are scheduled during normal school hours, when children are normally away in classes of their own. But when a child was in quarantine from school, this meant the mother had to facilitate school for her child. This caused their mothers to miss their own
classes.

Meeting the Challenge

Because the child was in quarantine, this often meant learning from a bunk bed in their dorm—far from a suitable learning environment.

By moving kids in kindergarten through grade 8 to online learning via our own “Virtual Academy,” we were able to give the children better monitoring and support, resulting in more classroom days for both moms and kids.

With the help of volunteers, we have been able to offer tutoring, extracurricular activities, field trips, and enrichment activities.

Just a few of these recent activities include being able to pick out a book to keep from the Best Little Bookmobile, attending a lacrosse game at Pope High School, and receiving weekly Bible lessons from the Good News Club.

What does the Virtual Academy provide?

Weekly, we have 25 volunteers supporting our Virtual Academy. Every day, we have two volunteers in addition to the lead teacher in the classroom, creating a three-person support team—more than kids would receive in the school system right now.

Filling the education gap

A special note from LaTonya Conner, Family and Children’s Services Leader

_____________________

Dear Friend,

At first glance, you might think the needs of those struggling with homelessness are obvious: a meal, shelter, clothing, and a cool drink of water.

But all too often, the most important needs are not so obvious, and every individual is different. As you’ll read in the cover story, Shante needed the help of a counselor and social worker to overcome the root causes of her homelessness.

Shante came to Atlanta Mission because she feared for the safety of her children—plus she had nowhere else to turn. Once she was here, she found the practical help she was missing, the healing her heart desperately needed, and a deeper relationship with God.

Like Shante, many of the women coming to our doors bring children whose lives and schooling have been disrupted by their family’s struggle with homelessness.

The kids desperately need security and stability. That’s why we’ve developed our Virtual Academy. This innovative program provides the children with tutoring and a host of inspiring activities that help them thrive in the classroom.

Your support has made it possible to make Atlanta Mission a safe and uplifting place for those we are privileged to serve. Thank you for your faithfulness!

On behalf of Allison and all those God gives us the privilege to serve, thank you!

LaTonya Conner
Family and Children’s Services Leader