Monday, June 1, marked Eileen Vizenor’s first night in her new apartment.
“It was terrific,” she said. “I even had trouble sleeping because it was so quiet. I liked sleeping in until 7 a.m. For the last five months I’ve had to get up at 5:30 every morning.”
Eileen lost her job in December, wasn’t able to make her rent in January and soon found herself and her 8-year-old Corgi, Molly Mae, experiencing homelessness. “I count my blessings for women’s shelters,” she says. “Molly and I did have a place to sleep inside. We didn’t have to sleep out on the streets.”
In the five months she was homeless, Eileen searched for jobs, volunteered at the hospitality center of St. Andre Bessette Catholic Church, and regularly sold Street Roots. “I’m really grateful for my loyal customers at St. Andre and Floyd’s Coffee Shop in Old Town. I’m also grateful and thankful for the support I get from my co-volunteers and staff at St. Andre Bessette.”
Working with Transition Projects and Home Forward, Eileen was able to get keys to an apartment along with a yearlong guarantee of rent and utilities to help her get back on her feet.
“I’m really paranoid about losing my keys,” Eileen says with a laugh. “I haven’t had house keys in five months.”
“I can’t wait to get my pictures and personal belongings in the apartment. It will feel more like a home,” says Eileen. But to Molly Mae the apartment is already home. “Molly loves running to the top of the stairs. She waits for me, then she barks. She already knows what apartment is ours.”
A room of our own
by Eileen V.
A room of our own is what I desire for Molly and Me.
Where we may find our solace once again, and be free.
Free of hatred, free of people, free of prejudices, free of incompleteness.
A room of our own where we can grow, develop and reunite as one.
A place to hang pictures and to have our belongings around us again.
A room of our own where we can just be.
