Our Story

I was raised with good old-fashioned values of working hard, proving oneself, and being accountable. I could nearly always find work no matter where I went. Despite this solid foundation of starting out in the world, there was a time when it seemed everything that could go wrong did, and the people I thought I could rely on to be accountable were not.

For a few years, it seemed like no matter how hard I worked, one thing after another went sideways. Looking back from where I am now, I realize in every one of those situations, although drastically different from one another my gut warned me that something wasn’t right. Most of us aren’t handed a manual when we are born with the title “How to Navigate Life and Avoid Hardship” and even if we were, I think it might just be a right of passage many of us need to go through in life.

The school of Hard Knocks, if they handed out degrees, I would have a few hangings on my wall, to say the least. I couldn’t believe someone like me, who works hard, cares about the people in her life, and in general is just a good person, could ever end up where I was, broken.

It was a time in my life when one too many things all happened at once. I was blindsided by many of them, and when it all came crashing down, I barely had anything left. I was broken financially, emotionally, and spiritually.

I was looking for a new place to rent and was truly wondering how I was going to rebuild from this. It was then that I saw a very unusual ad in the classifieds: Free Rent. The only catch was I had to look after the house, landscape, and dog while the owner was away working out of town. It almost seemed too good to be true, only it was true.

I leaped at the opportunity. I absolutely had to make this work. This was the only chance I would get to rebuild myself. I knew other candidates applied, and I prayed that the owner would disregard the depressed mess that I felt I must look like and pick me. Someway, somehow, for some reason, he did. Just like that, I had the once-in-a-lifetime break that hardly anyone ever gets later in life. I knew this was not likely to happen twice, and I was determined to rebuild myself to the point of never falling into the same mistakes again.

All the weight of financial stress was lifted from me. It took a long time to shake off that cloud and even longer to rebuild my faith in people. It was through the grace of this man and his need for someone to care for the place that I was able to rebuild myself. I truly do not know where I would be today if I didn’t have that opportunity years ago.

I was able to get financial counseling. I dived hard into anything I could learn, took it seriously, and applied everything to my life. I rebuilt my credit and continued the good habits I learned even to this present day. I changed careers and studied accounting while working for other companies in their offices.

I had a drive to fortify my financial knowledge and position. Today, I am happy to say I am the best version of myself.

I am proud that I was able to come out of all those tests in life as a better person. I also know that I could not have done it alone. I am so thankful for the break in life that I received, and I would not be who I am today if it wasn’t for the generosity of that man, who is now a good friend of mine.

I am in a much better place in life now; financially, emotionally, and spiritually.

I strongly believe that once one builds themselves up to a certain point, one has a duty to give back and help others. I often think of how much a break in not having to pay rent drastically changed the trajectory of my life. I have a strong desire to give others this opportunity in life as well. I truly believe when one is ready to apply themselves to massive change, a little help can go a long way.