Renewal Story: Mary & Savannah

When Mary gave birth to her daughter Savannah, her joy was soon eclipsed by loss. “My husband had been diagnosed with cancer. Within three months, he was gone and his brother kicked us out of the house,” Mary recalls. “Savannah was just a baby.”

Fort the next several years, mother and daughter drifted from one friend’s home to another. It was the only life Savannah knew… then even that was threatened. “I didn’t know where I was going to go,” Mary says. “I thought I was going to be sleeping on the sidewalk. I wasn’t going to put my baby through that.”

A friend told Mary about Union Gospel Mission of Tarrant County, but she had reservations. “Homeless people scared me,” she admits. However, after coming to the Mission she discovered, “We all got here through whatever situations we were in, and we’re all human.”

Mary also discovered that UGM-TC offered her and Savannah not only food and shelter, but a new beginning. Savannah, now seven, is enrolled in first grade, but Mary reports that she is reading at a third grade level. “She’s opening up and learning a lot,” Mary tells us. “I’m so proud of her!”

Since coming to the Mission, Mary has also opened up – to God. Our Alpha class and chapel services helped Mary to experience the love of Jesus Christ, just as the Good News Club introduced Savannah to her Savior. “She’s always asking about God. I tell her as much as I know when we read Bible stories together,” 

Now that Mary has graduated from the program, it won’t be long before she and Savannah can share Bible stories in a home of their own. “I’ve got a job and hopefully, we’ll have housing soon,” Mary says. “I want to give Savannah the best life I possibly can.”