Ellalein lived a normal life with her husband and two daughters, white picket fence and all. But her picture-perfect life fell apart the day two military men showed up on her doorstep to tell her that her husband had been killed in Vietnam.
To cope with her grief, Ellalein dove deep into alcoholism, an addiction that eventually drove her own children away and forced her onto the streets.
When I met Ellalein, she was flying a sign on the highway. She knew MLF because she had been served from the trucks. Ellalein told me she was struggling to find a way to get off the streets for good. So I told her about our Community First! program and how we could help lift her into a new home.
Ellalein’s biggest dream was to see her daughters again. Sober but still homeless, she had felt too ashamed to get in touch with them. But once she had her own place to call home, a home she could be proud of, she reached out and lovingly reunited with her girls.
Due to ongoing health issues, Ellalein passed away recently. She left this earth with her daughter at her side and was surrounded by the love of her Mobile Loaves & Fishes family – a far cry from the loneliness of the streets she had experienced for so many years.
–Alan Graham
At Mobile Loaves & Fishes we offer so much more than a meal.
We offer dignity, empowerment, relationship and community.
We offer a way home.
Through your support, Community First! lifts the chronically homeless off the streets and offers them permanent housing in gently-used RV homes. Surrounded by a supportive community, residents take responsibility for paying their own rent and utilities. Community First! empowers its residents to earn a living wage with dignity, improve their health and ultimately live self-sufficiently.
Community First! has flourished thanks to your care and concern for our homeless brothers and sisters. The support of Community First! allows residents to not only change their physical addresses but also transform their lives and embrace brighter futures.
