“If it can happen to me…”
Whatever your image is of a homeless person, it doesn’t look like Wendy.
Wendy never imagined herself like that either. “If it can happen to me, it can happen to anyone.”
For most of her life, Wendy, now 61, lived happily as a wife, mother, and devoted daughter. She grew up in a loving home and helped run her parents’ successful Texas restaurant. She was married to a petroleum engineer and after her divorce, to a high school teacher. She loved being a homemaker and she raised three beautiful kids.
Then, a few years ago, Wendy became one of Denver’s anonymous “homeless people.” You might have seen her slouched at a bus stop, or trudging slowly down the street, lugging a duffel bag which contained all her possessions. She spent much of her time at a homeless day center, returning at night to Samaritan House to sleep on a pallet.
All that time, one thought kept running through Wendy’s mind: “I have to get off the street. This is not me. This is not where I belong.”
What happened? Wendy believes depression is at the root of her homelessness. It has stalked Wendy since her twenties, but she always faced it heroically, helped by prescribed medications and counseling. Then, in her late fifties, the cumulative effects of depression hit like a body blow, and she was overwhelmed by a wave of profound losses, including divorce and family estrangement. She was left without financial resources or a place to live.
In 2019, Wendy was referred to the Julia Greeley Home, and everything began to change, beginning with her renewed self confidence. “The Julia Greeley Home gave me the opportunity to find out I can take care of myself. It’s given me insights to know I have a lot of resources I didn’t know I had, and that I can do this on my own.”
Julia Greeley’s staff encouraged Wendy to return to her life-long love of sewing and seamstress work. After years away from those skills, Wendy began designing doll clothes again, and then she branched out to make gorgeous bags and purses for staff and residents. Now she’s imagining a future business in selling her exquisitely made, one-of-a-kind items online and in boutiques.
She was also encouraged to return to the cooking and hospitality skills she honed her in parents’ Texas restaurant. Wendy became “head chef” of the kitchen at Julia Greeley Home and the ministry whose roof we share, Shannon’s Hope. Wendy was at her happiest in the kitchen, creating tasty meals for board meetings and donor gatherings, and even after she moves into her new apartment, she has been invited back to cook for future meetings and special events.
Her new apartment is scheduled to be ready in June, but we hope Wendy will return often to the Julia Greeley Home to share her story with residents and encourage them to keep working toward their own self sufficiency.
There are many other women like Wendy –wives, homemakers, mothers, career women — whose full and happy lives were suddenly crushed by circumstances. What they need is the time, spiritual support, and camaraderie of fellow residents and skilled staff to rebuild their lives.
Wendy laughs to think that when she came to Julia Greeley Home, she was sure that in her 60’s, life was over, and she was officially old and useless.
Today, she’s filled with enthusiasm and hope, and believes time is again on her side. Guess what, she says: “I’m not old anymore!”