Voices of Single Mothers
November 14, 2022
You’ve probably heard that there is an affordable housing crisis. Our single mothers are paying $1,500 a month in rent for the same apartment that was $900 a month last year. You’ve also probably heard that homelessness is an increasing problem resulting from the economic challenges our communities are facing. For a single mother to make enough to afford rent, childcare, transportation, and other basic needs for her family, she must make more than $23.00 per hour at minimum and that still means she’s struggling to build a financial safety net for emergencies. This scenario is not sustainable. Will you please take a moment and hear the voices of single mothers in Cumberland, Dauphin and York counties who are reaching out to us for help? Listen to what they are saying:
“I have a two year old. We’re escaping domestic violence. I have no money, no car, and I was kicked out of my mom’s home, my only place to live. Please help me.”
“I’m a mom of four children, we are not safe with my children’s father, my landlord is asking me to leave by the end of the month. I can’t find a job that will provide enough for my children. My son has autism which makes it difficult for me to find work and care for him at the same time. Can you help us?”
“My children and I are staying in an unfinished apartment with no oven and the Landlord just told me I have to move out. I lost my job recently and my children have already transitioned into three schools within the last year. I don’t want to move them again. Can you help us?”
“I’m living in a hotel with my four children and have it paid until the end of the month. I have a full-time job but it’s not enough. Two of my children need a lot of emotional support. Is there anything Bridge of Hope Harrisburg Area can do to help us?”
Latreese told us, “I’m never the person to ask for help. I always made everything happen with just the little bit of money I had and I made sure my children were well taken care of. I was also doing school while I wasn’t working. I was working on my degree so I can move up in the world and show my girls we can do stuff, we just have to try harder. I wanted to do better for me and my children.” And now she needs your help.
On average, 30 to 40 families facing homelessness call and ask us for help each month. When you give to support Bridge of Hope Harrisburg Area, you offer a solution to the problems these families are facing. Bridge of Hope Harrisburg Area helps with rental assistance on a decreasing basis until mom finds stable employment, builds earning power, and has housing she can sustain herself. We assist families in furthering their education when it’s needed, increase financial literacy, and help with emergency expenses if her budget gets tight and she needs someone to turn to.
We depend only on the generosity of donors like you to keep children housed and in school, to help single mothers secure jobs that offer sustainable wages, and to find affordable apartments from landlord partners. We do not receive state or federal funding so these vital services are offered in Cumberland, Dauphin and York counties because you give. Your gift ensures that one more child has a bed to sleep in and food to eat. When you give any size gift, you make sure that one more single mother has the opportunity to better herself and provide for her children for years to come.
This year our supporters made it possible for fifteen families to secure sustainable housing! Our work is not done, there are more families to help, so we are asking you to please give hope to fifteen more single mothers and their children in 2023. When you support Bridge of Hope Harrisburg Area, you give a hand-up out of homelessness (not a hand-out) to single mothers like Latreese and the others you just heard from.
Your financial investment will end homelessness, will offer basic needs, and will give hope to children who need to know someone cares and to a single mother who needs to hear that she’s not alone. That’s the goal we all share, to end homelessness for fifteen more families in 2023, and with your help I know we can get the job done! Will you join all of us at Bridge of Hope Harrisburg Area in ending homelessness for families today as we love and support single mothers and their children?