Julie came to the house in late October 2009 with 11-year-old son Timothy and 9-year-old daughter Sierra. Julie and her children had been staying with her parents since leaving their apartment when Julie lost her job. During this time, Julie also received an OWI and was just starting substance abuse treatment at St. Luke’s Chemical Dependency across the street from us. Julie had several goals: complete treatment, find a job, get an apartment, and get her driver’s license back. These things all go hand-in-hand, but it’s difficult to have one without the other.

In November, Julie found a job with a small cleaning company. However, she couldn’t work when she needed to be in class, and she had to work when her boss could. Sometimes she could barely get in 15 hours a week. She continued to diligently look for other work and tried to complete her classes while still finding time for her children and work part-time.

With the winter weather, Julie’s class stretched out three extra weeks due to school closings. After Christmas, she found a full-time job at a local hotel. She had also applied in early November for a new housing program in Iowa. In December, the people at this program told her to start looking for an apartment and they would help her with rent, deposit, and her previous electric bill. However, this kept being postponed, and even though Julie would have liked to wait for their help, she knew she wanted to move on to what was important to her. Knowing she would receive her tax refund in January, she looked for an apartment that she could afford that was big enough for her, her children, and their cats.

After graduating from her class in early January and having a few weeks on the new job, Julie got an apartment right behind our House. Our House Manager helped move her belongings from storage and got her a donated love seat, and Julie moved in to her new place! She is doing great and her kids are glad to have a place to call home. We are glad Julie is close by as she will be working here part-time on weekends to help her with saving for a car. Julie definitely seems to be on the road to success!