Kathy
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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