A Life Built to Last
Carmen’s story didn’t end when she left Hoving Home.
At just 24 years old, she stepped into a world that felt uncertain. The structure and support she had known were behind her, and ahead was the challenge of building a life on her own.
Returning home to the Baltimore area, Carmen knew she needed support. God placed a trusted friend and mentor in her life who helped her adjust to everyday life. With that guidance, she found stability, securing a job, buying a car, and beginning to take steady steps forward.
But what shaped her most wasn’t just what she rebuilt, it was where she rooted herself.
Carmen found a home church and became deeply involved, serving in ministries that reached incarcerated youth and adults. She taught Sunday School, poured into others, and began to live out her faith in a consistent and meaningful way.
Over time, those steady choices became something much greater.
One of those relationships began through the Big Brothers Big Sisters program, where Carmen became a mentor to a young girl. What started as a simple commitment grew into a lifelong bond, a relationship that has now lasted more than 40 years.
Carmen continued to grow, both personally and spiritually. She studied the Bible, completing programs in theology, and pursued additional training in cosmetology and medical fields.
Her life wasn’t built all at once.
It was built step by step.
For more than 30 years, Carmen worked in administrative roles for the Baltimore City government, creating a stable and consistent life. After retiring in 2016, she continues to stay active, working part-time, spending time with family and friends, and investing in the next generation by teaching neighborhood children about God.
Looking back, Carmen’s story is one of quiet faithfulness.
A life shaped not by one moment, but by years of choosing to stay grounded in God.
Her advice is simple:
Stay close to Him.
Stay in prayer.
And when difficult times come, keep your focus on Jesus.
Carmen’s life is a reflection of what can happen when a foundation is built on faith, and lived out, one day at a time.
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From Numbness to New Life
Jillian’s story didn’t change overnight.
What started at a young age slowly took hold — small choices that turned into patterns, and patterns that became addiction. Over time, what once felt manageable began to control her daily life, leaving her feeling stuck and disconnected from everything around her.
“I felt like the walking dead,” she remembers. “I was just here… everything was passing me by, and I wasn’t living.”
As the years went on, the weight of it all grew heavier, especially after the heartbreak of losing custody of her baby. What began as marijuana turned into daily drinking, and life became something she was simply trying to get through.
Eventually, Jillian knew something had to change.
When she first came to Hoving Home, she was desperate for a different life but unsure how to get there. The structure, the expectations, and the process of change were not easy. After a short time, she left.
But only two weeks later, she came back — ready to truly do the work.
This time, something was different.
At Hoving Home, Jillian began to experience a kind of love she had never known before. Through daily chapel, relationships, and a steady rhythm of life, she slowly started to rebuild what addiction had taken. More importantly, she began to grow in her faith and understand who God really was.
Over the course of the year, that foundation became real.
She didn’t just learn about change — she lived it.
Today, Jillian’s life looks completely different. She has a job she once believed was out of reach, and after years of separation, she has been reunited with her son.
She now walks forward with a renewed sense of purpose, grounded in the truth that carried her through:
“If we are faithless, He remains faithful.” — 2 Timothy 2:13
Looking back, Jillian sees the difference clearly.
What once felt like just surviving has become a life she is fully living.
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What Began in Darkness Became a Story of Grace
Mary grew up in church, but beneath the surface she carried deep wounds she didn’t yet understand. Throughout her childhood and early teenage years, trauma shaped how she viewed herself and the world. By thirteen, anger and pain began showing up through rebellion, drinking, and destructive choices.
At sixteen, Mary became a mother. Feeling overwhelmed and lost, she spiraled further into addiction. After losing custody of her son, her life unraveled quickly. A relationship introduced her to heroin, and soon she was running from legal trouble, eventually ending up homeless on the streets of Chicago.
“I was completely hopeless,” she remembers. “Like a zombie.”
Alone, addicted, and facing prison time after repeated arrests, Mary finally reached a breaking point. She called her father and told him she was ready for help. He flew to Chicago, brought her home, and drove her directly to Hoving Home in New York.
There, life looked completely different. Structure replaced chaos. Days were filled with chapel, devotions, responsibilities, and community. Slowly, Mary began confronting the deeper wounds beneath her addiction.
One weekend, while watching a video about childhood trauma, everything clicked. For the first time, she understood how her past had shaped her choices. Healing began as God addressed the roots of her pain, not just the symptoms.
Mary embraced the rhythm of daily life at the home — worship, friendships, and spiritual discipline that rebuilt stability she had never known before.
After completing the program, she attempted to rebuild life on her own but eventually relapsed. Recognizing she needed more help, Mary returned to Hoving Home determined to fully surrender the process.
During her second stay, she discovered she was pregnant. Though afraid at first, she was surrounded by overwhelming love and support as the home allowed her to remain in the program.
After giving birth to her daughter Grace, Mary completed the program and began rebuilding her life step by step. Over time, she reunited with her daughter and continued growing in faith and stability.
Today, more than twenty years later, Mary looks back with gratitude and amazement at the life God has restored. A devoted mother living in peace, she continues to walk forward one day at a time, grounded in the verse that carried her through every season:
“Be still, and know that I am God.” — Psalm 46:10
“I can’t even recognize the person I used to be,” she says. “I’m amazed at where I am today.”
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In Her Lowest Moment, God Opened the Door to Healing
Janelle spent years trying to outrun a quiet ache she didn’t know how to name.
She grew up moving between homes, never fully settling, never quite feeling like she belonged. Success became her safety. If she achieved enough, stayed busy enough, proved herself enough — maybe the restlessness would fade.
She excelled academically. Earned her degrees. Built a career she was proud of.
But when life unraveled, so did the identity she had built everything on.
After a painful season and the pressure of graduate studies, drinking slowly became her escape. What began as a way to cope grew into something she could no longer control. When COVID eliminated her job overnight, the last sense of stability disappeared.
Drinking spiraled. Relationships broke down. And eventually, Janelle ran — straight into homelessness.
“I was living in my car, drinking a gallon of vodka a day just to get through,” she says.
One night, showering in a public dog-wash station to avoid being seen, something inside her finally gave way.
A local shelter told her to call Hoving Home.
She expected rejection. Instead, she was met with kindness — and then something only God could do.
Alcohol left her system completely.
No withdrawals.
No medical complications.
Only freedom.
At Hoving Home, Janelle finally slowed down long enough to heal. She learned her worth was never tied to performance or titles, but to Christ alone. As her heart was restored, her family — once pushed away — came back with love and support.
She completed the program and chose to stay longer, completed the Leadership Academy to continue growing in faith and confidence.
Today, Janelle is sober, restored, and walking in the identity God gave her.
The woman who once hid in shame now lives in the light of His love.
Her story is still being written — because someone made room for her healing.
Your generosity creates that space.
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Rose’s Story: From Surviving to Becoming Who God Created Her to Be
Rose’s childhood was shaped by instability, uncertainty, and the constant pressure to stay strong. She learned early that showing emotion wasn’t safe, and that survival meant keeping everything inside. As she became an adult, the same wounds she tried to outrun kept resurfacing—through broken relationships, exhaustion, and patterns she didn’t know how to break.
“I kept trying to hold everything together,” Rose said. “But inside, I was falling apart.”
The losses piled up. The trauma she never named grew heavier. Her search for peace led her further into substance use—something that began small but slowly consumed her. She felt alone, ashamed, and increasingly hopeless. The night everything crashed down, Rose whispered a prayer she didn’t expect God to hear: “If You’re real… please help me.”
That simple plea became the beginning of her rescue.
A few days later, God opened the door to Hoving Home. Rose arrived exhausted—emotionally, spiritually, physically. But it was here, in an environment full of safety, Scripture, accountability, and unconditional love, that she experienced something she had never known before: belonging.
Over time, Rose began to unpack years of buried pain. She learned truth, practiced forgiveness, discovered boundaries, and found joy—real joy. She encountered Jesus not as a distant idea, but as a healer who cared about every part of her story.
She found community. She found purpose. She found rest.
Most of all, Rose found herself—the woman God had always seen beneath the hurt.
Her identity, once shaped by trauma, is now rooted in Christ.
Her voice, once quieted by shame, now carries authority, peace, and hope.
Her future, once feared, is now embraced with confidence.
Today, Rose stands in a place she once believed she would never reach—steady, joyful, and rooted in Christ. The identity she thought was shattered has been rebuilt by His truth and love.
As God restored her life, He also awakened a calling. After graduating from Hoving Home, Rose stepped into missions training with Youth With A Mission (YWAM), believing the hope she received was meant to be shared.
Now she serves as a missionary, encouraging young women, telling her story, and offering the same compassion that once rescued her. Her life is living proof that God doesn’t just heal—He sends, He equips, and He transforms.
Rose is no longer the woman who felt invisible. She is a leader, a worshipper, and a witness to the redeeming power of Jesus. And this is only the beginning.
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From under the boardwalk to a brand-new life.
Kathy spent seven years homeless on the streets of Atlantic City — sleeping underneath the boardwalk and doing whatever she had to do to survive.
Her life had been marked by pain long before the streets. She grew up in a home where dysfunction was normal. After trauma, abuse, and the collapse of her marriage, she lost everything — including custody of her son. She turned to drugs and alcohol and spiraled deeper into addiction.
A county social worker kept telling her about Hoving Home. For three years, Kathy refused.
One day, something shifted. She felt God speak to her heart. She smoked her last cigarette and headed to the Hoving Home.
Within two weeks, during choir practice, Kathy surrendered her life to Jesus — and for the first time in her life, she discovered a real, personal relationship with Him, not just religion.
From that point forward, Kathy never looked back.
She completed the program, went straight into ministry training, and later served at multiple recovery and discipleship programs. She learned Scripture, grew in confidence, and poured into other women who were just as broken as she once was.
After graduating, she returned to New Jersey, where God continued to use her — even while managing a McDonald’s. Young employees came to her for prayer because they saw something different in her.
Today, Kathy is approaching ten years clean.
Her faith carried her through the unthinkable — the death of her son. She says she survived that grief only because of her relationship with Jesus.
She remains connected to her Hoving Home sisters — women who walk with her, pray with her, and surround her in hard seasons.
She calls it a sisterhood that never ends.
Kathy now has peace. She has purpose.
And she wants other women to know the same hope. “It was a vessel for me to build that relationship with the Lord that’s sustained me for 10 years and will sustain me to the day I die.”
Your gift helps the next woman like Kathy walk out of the wilderness — and into a new life.
No woman should have to survive under a boardwalk.
Your generosity opens the door before she turns back.
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Crystal grew up in Staten Island, the youngest of five girls. Outwardly, she lived a normal life, but inside she was restless and rebellious. After a surgery in her twenties, she was prescribed painkillers. Soon addiction took hold, and when the pills ran out, heroin filled the gap.
Her life spiraled downward; arrests, hopeless cycles, and broken relationships. She didn’t believe in God, but when her parents read about a woman who found freedom through Hoving Home, they begged her to try.
In 2015, Crystal entered Hoving Home for the first time. Within two weeks, she encountered the presence of God in a way she had never known. That January, she surrendered her life to Jesus Christ.
But years later, Crystal drifted. She backslid into drugs during the pandemic and endured three years in a violent, abusive relationship. One night, after fighting back for the first time, she was arrested again. Soon after, she watched her friend overdose and die beside her. Crystal was shattered, filled with shame, and certain her story was over.
Yet God’s mercy had not let her go. Her parents once again urged her to return to Hoving Home. This time, Crystal came with nothing left to give, except her brokenness. Through one-on-one counseling, chapel, and the love of mentors, she found true healing for her trauma and freedom from addiction.
Today, Crystal’s life is a testimony of restoration. She graduated from Hoving Home and Leadership Academy, completed internships, and now works in an upscale Manhattan salon. She has run a half marathon, serves actively in her church, and has a restored relationship with her family.
Her story proves that no pit is too deep and no shame is too heavy for the saving grace of Jesus Christ.
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From feeling invisible to fully seen
As the oldest of 17 children, Shaquiece grew up surrounded by manipulation and judgmental comments. No matter how hard she tried, nothing was ever good enough. Struggling with reading and comprehension, but excelling in math in school led to physical and verbal abuse. By the time she was older, she felt she never had her own identity, always too much like one parent or the other, and never accepted for who she was.
Years later, she still carried that need for acceptance. Depression, anger, and the weight of feeling invisible left her exhausted. She longed for daily help from God but didn’t know how to find it.
One Sunday, she walked into a church and, for the first time, went forward during an altar call. Weeping, she told God she was tired of feeling alone. A woman placed her hand on her shoulder and said:
That moment changed everything.
From there, God led her to the Hoving Home.
When she walked through the doors of the Las Vegas Home, Shaquiece felt something powerful:
She knew she was supposed to be there. Still, the thought of leaving her kids was painful. But when her daughters toured the house, even they said they couldn’t argue with how good it was.
In her first 30 days, her children saw the difference: “Oh my gosh, Mom, you have structure. Mom, you seem so happy.”
Inside the program, God gave Shaquiece a new identity. She realized her worth and value in Christ, discovering that she was called by name, loved, and precious to Him.
Shaquiece completed the program in Las Vegas and is in the Leadership Academy in California. Her desire is to help other women discover their identity in Christ.
She continues to stand on Proverbs 3:5–6: “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will direct your paths.”
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From feeling incomplete to completely whole
Heidi never felt like she was enough. For most of her life, she chased relationships in hopes that someone else could make her feel whole. But every time, she ended up more broken than before.
After her long-term boyfriend passed away unexpectedly, grief overtook her. She started drinking, then using cocaine. She lost her job, her apartment, and her direction. For nearly a year, Heidi was living out of her truck, through both summer and winter.
Still, she kept trying to find hope in people. She moved to Texas for another relationship, but it turned abusive. Broke, addicted, and desperate, she found herself at a payphone calling her mom.
Her mom had been telling her about Hoving Home for years. That day, Heidi was finally ready. She drove herself back to New York with nothing but a sliver of hope.
From the moment she walked through the doors, Heidi knew something was different. This wasn’t just about recovery, it was about redemption. She encountered God’s love in a personal way for the first time. Surrounded by women who understood her pain, Heidi began to believe that she was truly loved, chosen, and forgiven.
She found strength in Scripture, in chapel worship, and in the community of women who reminded her daily that she didn’t need to earn her worth, she already had it in Christ.
Today, Heidi is living a completely transformed life. She works as a hospital detox counselor, helping others take their first steps toward healing and often tells them about Hoving Home.
She still leans on the truths she learned in the program and cherishes the deep relationship she now has with Jesus.
Heidi once lived in chaos, addiction, and fear.
Now she lives in peace, purpose, and the presence of God.
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Carrie remembers driving herself to the hospital.
With all the chaos at home, she was used to taking care of herself. Between the drugs and alcohol, divorce and hiding, she was the only person she could really count on.
Enduring the horror of the rape, and then the trauma of losing the baby, Carrie decided on that drive to the hospital to keep running … from God and from the pain.
Carrie’s drug of choice was cocaine. It numbed the past and helped her stay focused on climbing the corporate ladder. On the outside, Carrie was successful, making enough money to do anything she wanted … but using it to support her addiction.
Having grown up going to church amid the dysfunction, the small seeds of faith planted in Carrie’s heart remained. In her moment of desperation, she watched “The Passion of the Christ” on her laptop and heard the Lord telling her, “This is not the life I have for you!”
Immediately, Carrie called her mom and asked for help. Having spent time in another faith based program, Carrie’s mom knew about Hoving Home. Carrie was ready for help and God began to change her life.
“At Hoving Home, God showed me it wasn’t the drugs, it was numbing the pain that was the problem. I had never walked through unforgiveness I had. I was there crying and God was healing me and collecting my tears.”
Carrie learned to trust in God’s Word and began praying for her future children and generational curses to be broken. And the Lord answered in miraculous ways, even allowing Carrie to conceive after getting married when doctors previously told her she was barren.
After completing our program, Carrie found a passion in cooking and creating flavors for others to enjoy. She helped manage a restaurant until her husband passed unexpectedly and the restaurant burned down. In the tragedy, Carrie ran to the altar instead of running away.
Through the hills and valleys, Carrie is surrendered to bring hope into hopeless situations, a gift she learned through Hoving Home. Now she relies on Jesus. No more running. Just resting in Christ.
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