04 Apr Resident Spotlight: Althea C.

One of our most memorable residents has got to be Althea. This remarkable and indefatigable lady went through our program about seven years ago, and none of us has been the same since.

Althea and her teenage son were living in a dangerous, drug-infested area where she worked a few part time jobs trying to keep a roof above their heads. She says it felt like a war zone; her son was often too afraid to go outside but it was what they could afford. Unfortunately, when she lost her job even that became impossible. Once she was accepted to Inter-Faith Housing Alliance, she put her bible and her son in the car and left everything else behind.

She’ll never forget that drive to Ambler. Her son nervously asked her if this journey was the right thing. Althea responded, “This is not a journey- it’s an adventure. A journey seems long and cold and hard but an adventure feels like the yellow brick road.” And now, she says, he still looks at life as an adventure- a fortitude that serves him well as a scholarship student at a great college.

And Althea? Well, she’s still adventuring, these days with a powerful sidekick. “I always wanted to get closer to God,” she said, “and living in eight of His houses really made me closer to Him… I had an awakening that you are never alone. There are always people ready to help. There is a God who watches over us and whether you are Catholic or Jewish or Baptist we are all really the same.”

Amen, Althea. Amen.