Success Stories
Striving for success and never looking back
What do you do when you’re homeless at age 18 with no money and no one to turn to for help? Jequoia knows that scenario all too well. “At first, I asked my family for help. But they wouldn’t. I was determined that someday I would make a name for myself. I would be proud of who I am.” After two months of living on the street, Jequoia went to Emergency Shelter Services in Benton Harbor for help. “Someone told me that there was an emergency shelter that helped people like me, if they just put in the effort to make their life better. I said to myself, ‘go for it, girl!’”
In the beginning, living at the shelter was very difficult for Jequoia. “The people who now support me the most doubted my abilities at first. But I knew I would be the exception to the rule. They said, ‘you’re young and don’t have your priorities straight.’ They didn’t think that being 18 and homeless I could possibly handle the responsibilities of being an adult.” But that just added more fuel to her fire. “Being told that I wasn’t capable of getting out of the hole I was in only made me want to work harder. I was putting 210 percent into everything I did, to be the best person I could possibly be – to get out of the rut I was in and be somebody.”
When Jequoia started her journey, she was a homeless high school dropout with no skills and not a penny to her name. “I am now the mother of a beautiful four-month-old daughter and I am a college student.” Jequoia’s personality and tenacity so impressed the people at the emergency shelter, they even offered her a job. She now works there several days a week while going to school. She plans on becoming a social worker so she can help others who find themselves in similar circumstances. According to Alysia, executive director of the homeless shelter, Jequoia is now their AmeriCorps worker.
What Jequoia has been through has certainly affected where she is today and where she’s heading. “With the help of the emergency shelter and people like Alysia, Kris (outreach case manager) and Nate, I have completely turned my life around. And it’s getting better every day. I see my future, and it’s very bright.”
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