Tag - homeless

Sharon Berkobien, CEO, Holy Cross Services
06 May

“Change the life of one.”

Holy Cross Services’ leader lives the mission

Sometimes it is the smallest people who teach us the biggest lessons. Sharon Berkobien sees this happen every day. “I've just learned a tremendous amount about resiliency and what that takes,” she says. “About what people can actually survive and go through and come out the other side.” (more…)
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Lisa is a young mother who was homeless for a year before coming to New Hope Community Center.
18 Feb

A young mother of three is Homeless No More

Like so many people, Lisa never imagined she’d need to knock on the door of a homeless shelter and ask for help. “Sometimes things don’t go the way you planned,” said Lisa, who’s from Lansing and had been homeless for about a year before coming to Holy Cross Services’ New Hope Community Center. “At first I thought it was embarrassing,” she said. “It was hard. I didn’t want to be here. I thought the world was on my back. I was broken. It was horrible.” But Lisa didn’t just have herself to look after, she had two children – a primary school son and a preschool daughter – and was pregnant with a third. (more…)
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11 Nov

Being homeless: Finding hope in the search of a home

Jason came to Lansing to help a friend and ended up needing to help himself because of his struggle with being homeless.  He made the move to help his friend back in 2017, supporting his new roommate until the living arrangement became too chaotic. Left feeling sick because of his environment, Jason found himself homeless and adrift.  “Being homeless is like being lost in space,” he said. “You don't know where to go or what to do; it's scary.” Jason bounced from shelter to shelter, until earlier this year when he landed at Homeless Angels, a street-based outreach organization in Lansing. While there, he’s also received support from programs at Holy Cross Services’ New Hope Community Center. (more…)
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23 Oct

Gebrelle finds understanding and a new path at Holy Cross

Gebrelle had dropped out of the eighth grade and felt like he was nothing more than a lost cause. “I was doing a bunch of stuff I wasn’t supposed to do,” admitted the teen, who struggled in school and had fallen behind. Gebrelle, who thought he never had a chance, said he found one when he arrived at Holy Cross Services. The organization offered him something so many teens in troubled situations say they need: understanding. “There’s people here that I can relate to,” he said. “They’ve been through stuff that I did.” (more…)
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