A Christmas to Remember
I bet you have a holiday that stands out in your memory. Maybe it was when you were 5 and you got the bicycle you’d been praying for.
Or the first time you picked out your own tree with your spouse, or hung a stocking in your first apartment.
There are little things that make us remember the special days in our lives, and for many – Christmas stands out among all the others. There is something magical and wonderful about it.
Last Christmas was like that for Cassie*.
Cassie got pregnant with her first child when she was just 14. After dropping out of high school, she couldn’t get a job. Caring for her baby became a daily struggle. When she met a man who wanted to take care of her and her baby, she felt rescued and married him.
Then he started abusing her. Cassie was afraid if she left there would be no way to keep a roof over her child’s head.
So Cassie put up with the violence for 10 years. Then one day her husband beat her savagely and locked her in a basement to die.
But she escaped. With nowhere to go, she started living on the streets.
She didn’t know she could come to Everett Gospel Mission. So she did what she had to do to survive. Unfortunately for her that meant getting hooked on drugs. That’s how she coped with the hunger and cold.
By God’s grace and the generosity of friends like you, we had just finished our Women’s and Children’s shelter expansion. That meant we had room for Cassie, and her children.
Cassie asked me to share this with you:
“Thank you for supporting the Mission. You’ve helped me get on my feet. If it wasn’t for you, we’d be without diapers, shampoo and everything my children need. Last Christmas, my children even received toys. That meant so much.”
Thanks to people like you, Cassie is safe. She and her children experienced God’s goodness and hope through hot meals, safe shelter, basic necessities and Christmas gifts.
Cassie knows she made the right choice. Now she is safe. She and her children are building a new life, and it all started with the generosity of friends like you.
You can reach out to someone like Cassie this Christmas. You can make this holiday one that your homeless and hungry neighbors will never forget.
