June 2025 Newsletter

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Mother Reunited With Children

Mackenzie’s life has been greatly affected by a medical condition and her response to it. She has fibromyalgia, a chronic condition characterized by widespread pain, fatigue, and other symptoms like sleep disturbances and cognitive difficulties. It affects muscles and small tissues throughout the body, making it difficult to perform daily activities. A couple of years ago during the pregnancy of her son, she experienced increased symptoms of pain, fatigue, sleep disturbances, and mood changes.

Mackenzie was unable to work at that time. Her only income was Supplemental Security Income (551) for the disability of one of her children. She was barely able to rent an apartment for herself, two daughters, then a son after he was born. In time, the four of them moved into her mother’s house. However, it was against the subsidized housing rules there, and they had to move out. Her daughters went to the custody of their father, and her son went to live with his grandmother.

Mackenzie was in crisis between not having her children, dealing with her medical condition, and self-medication with alcohol and illicit drugs. It’s not uncommon for those that suffer from the pain of fibromyalgia to go from prescription medication to other sources of relief.
Every bridge with family and friends had been broken. She was in no condition to be employed. Mackenzie was homeless and on the street. New, so-called friends directed her to a tent camp out of town. A campfire was her source of heat this past winter. Addiction was rampant throughout the camp.

She said, “It was scary. There were people using Fentanyl and shooting up. It was sad. I felt lost. I felt like a 12-year-old girl, scared and alone, not having anybody, not able to trust anybody. I got robbed. I was hopeless, did not care about anything, especially myself. I felt like a loser for being homeless, losing my kids. I was in a self-pity party at my lowest point. Then God gave me some clarity, a spiritual awakening. I stopped using, left camp, and went to a friend. My mom looked online for shelters. I purposefully went clean, so I could go to Samaritan Inn.” She had a profound, life-changing experience in a homeless camp.

Now at Samaritan Inn, she had reinforcement and encouragement to grow in her faith in the Lord, recover sobriety, and reunite with family. She said, “I like chapel here, because it keeps me in touch with God, reminds me why I’m here, and keeps me on the right path.” She does a daily devotional on her phone and goes to church every week with her daughters. She attends Celebrate Recovery (for hurts, hang-ups and habits) one evening a week. And she takes needed classes for addiction recovery. Mackenzie said, “I need this place (Samaritan Inn) for the routine and structure, the discipline and stability for now, and the accountability to not relapse.” She said that she would not accept subsidized housing now, because she needs more sobriety time here first.

In the photo, Mackenzie is on the play structure at Samaritan Inn with her daughters, Nevaeh (7) and Haven (5). Her girls attend an elementary school four days a week, while living with their father. She now has custody of them three days and nights a week at Samaritan Inn, because we are a DHS approved living environment with a homelike setting, a safe place, a safety service provider on site, and Mackenzie is taking all her required classes. She is still working on regaining custody of her son Tatum (2).

She is now ready to return to employment and has begun to drop off her resume to businesses within walking distance to our shelter. Mackenzie said, “I’m grateful to be here, it’s wonderful. My girls love it here, to play outside, play with other kids. They are happy that mom is here and not on the street.”