Ms. Mary Standford originally came to Threshold Ministry of Decatur Presbyterian Church, looking for housing assistance; there she met Shelly Fine with A Home For Everyone in DeKalb.
“My daughter and I were having issues, and I left to get assistance with housing. The people there worked very hard especially Ms. Shelly and Marlene. They called places right away when I was there. They called to see where they had vacancies.”
Prior to this, Ms. Standford was staying at a motel, but she had run out of money. “I’d already packed my suitcase and was ready to be homeless,” she says. “Eventually I would have been on the street. As sad as it is, my daughter and I get along fine as long as we’re not in the house together. It really helped both of us.”
She said she was feeling desperation when she came for help. “Lord, what am I going to do? I can’t stay in the house! Where shall I go? Can I stay in a shelter?“ She found out that none of the shelters had any vacancies; she was wondering if she would get help, and she did.
She said it felt great to get help so quickly. “It was amazing. They worked so hard to find a place for me. That amazed me. Shelly drove around to find places that were close to the bus stop that I could walk to.”
About the apartment that she moved into she says “Ooh, I just love it! I haven’t had this much sunshine since I was a child, growing up in the country. The sun comes in on both sides of the apartment from morning till sundown. Plus I really love it because I can just walk a little distance to the street. I’m not scared of walking through a whole complex or something to get to the bus stop. It’s like an answered prayer. I feel safe, the neighbors are good and they have a dog. He barks if anybody comes up. It means so much when people are treating you nice. They really try to get everybody a home.”
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