Sharon just celebrated her 49th birthday. She’s lived in Canada for 38 years. For the last six, she’s been in a cycle of homelessness, moving from place to place.
“It started after my mom passed away. Shortly after that, my marriage broke down, and then I was on my own,” Sharon says. “Since I was young, I worked and I saved my money. My eyes were never open, nor did I have the knowledge or awareness of homelessness or poverty.”
The breakdown of her marriage affected her ability to function in her job. She left work. Sharon also found support in God and Christianity, which helps her daily.
“When my when things really got real in my life, I realized I needed more than just a friend to talk to. I needed divine help,” she says. “I needed God to help me through each step and phase of my life.”
She and her ex-husband had a house in Streetsville. When they divorced, she couldn’t to handle the mortage on her own. She had to sell the house.
“I got a little inheritance, so I was paying the bills off that. Unfortunately, things were just getting worse. I had an addiction. I was drinking and smoking daily. I was hitting the bottle hard, I was depressed; I was becoming suicidal.”
“I’ve never been so low, but I know God is teaching me something and giving me the desire and passion to help others. Sharon and her son moved to a condo. The money from the house ran out, and her addiction ate away her savings.
“I had to sit with the Word of God and say, I need you to help me through this, because I can’t keep drinking, having this little child in the house.”
Sharon sent her son to live with his dad, she moved in with her aunt, taking the opportunity to work, sort out her debts and treat her addiction. Her aunt told Sharon she needed to start saving up and find a better job or leave. Sharon found it an impossible task. She moved out. She lived in her car. She took out a small loan and rented a hotel.
“I didn’t know that I could ask the govern- ment for assistance. If I knew, I probably wouldn’t be where I am now,” she says.
“Nevertheless, I know it’s part of God’s plan, so I can be aware of what’s happening in society.” In one home she and her son lived in another young man in the house was involved in ‘guns and gangs’. She hadn’t understood the severity until her son was misidentified while headed to school.
“There were undercover cops watching the house,” she says. “That made me run, next time it might not just be a grab.”
Her son again returned to his father, and Sharon found herself in a shelter she only knew about because of outreach she’d done with her church.
“Through everything that I’ve been through, it’s him. It’s being based on the Word of God that pulled me out of all the pits that I’ve been in, including right now.”
Sharon maintains a brightness that even the shelter staff notice. She walks up and down the street, asking people if she can keep them in her prayers. “This is why I know the Lord allowed me to come into the shelter.”
After buying cars, a house, paying taxes and working since 15 years old, Sharon doesn’t understand how a few moments made and kept her homeless. She says something has to change.
“How can I start back at 49? There’s no way I can get there without help.” “If we work together, we all do better. We’re squishing people down on the bottom. I choose to speak up and pray somebody will the right ears will hear.”