After 27 years of marriage, 4 adult children and many grandchildren, I found myself in the middle of a divorce. My husband changed banks, maxed out our credit cards leaving me without any money. Our home was put into foreclosure I was forced to file for bankruptcy. It took over a year for our divorce to go through the legal system, which left me with a minimal settlement due to the debt occurred and the legal fees.
While married and raising our children, my role then was the housewife, mother, caregiver to my husband and other family members, and community volunteer. When I did work for short periods outside the home it was as a cook. I re-entered the workforce needing to support myself with an older body that was not used to doing such physical labor. As I was searching for classes to improve my computer skills, I incurred many obstacles. I did not have the money to take a college class since I was only making $12/hour as a cook. Nor did I have the time since I was trying to work as much overtime as possible to survive. I found that most companies didn’t want to train for a position.
While going through all this chaos, I kept wondering why there wasn’t someplace I could go to live affordably, while I was trying to heal emotionally, financially, and spiritually. I needed affordable, safe housing, which was hard to find. I was fortunate to have loving family and friends who let me stay with them. But I still found myself moving 4 times that first year. I needed a place I could call home and have others to talk to that were going through similar issues. If I had been in an abusive relationship, I could have gone to LaCasa. If were coming out of jail or rehab, I could go to ¾ or ½ way house for recovery but there was nothing for a woman who was going through a divorce or displacement.
The desire to have this SAFE, LOVING, AFFORDABLE HOME is how Prelude Home came about. It was a seed God planted on my heart when I was in the middle of chaos. The Holy Spirit has been feeding that seed and leading me to wonderful people who also see the great opportunity to help others succeed in life when they need it most. The word Prelude had been stuck in my head and I didn’t know why because I never read the Prelude of a book, nor do I play music. But I now know that it was the Holy Spirit leading me to start this shared home for women, since the first thought of why there isn’t a place for me to live. A Prelude is the beginning of a song or book, Prelude Home will be the beginning of the new lives for the women living there. Together we can make it a great beginning to the rest of their lives while they are living at Prelude Home.
Please keep Prelude Home, the Residents, Volunteers, Donors and Board Members in your thoughts and prayers.
Pray Us Forward
Carrie Hastings – Founder & President of Prelude Home