With a squirmy 10 month old in her arms, Beth came to the Access Center for the first time. The idea of spending the night in a shelter scared her, but when her Case Manager offered to carry her belongings to her room, she began to realize she would be ok.

On the outside, Beth comes across as an even-tempered, poised young woman. But on the inside, she saw herself as someone who was stuck and directionless. Even at the young age of 21, she thought she had already messed up her life too badly to recover.

“It was tough balancing everything here, at school, and my son, but I had support here, and anytime I felt like I couldn’t do it, someone always lifted me up.”

— Beth
Former Water Street Guest

In coming to Water Street, Beth did learn one thing straight away, our staff was here to love her. And they were here to love her young son Lennox too. “No one looked down on him or me because of the
situation we came from or the situation we were in,” she says. “It gave him a place to just be a kid…and he didn’t have to worry about any of the struggles that I was going through.”

Her struggles included homelessness and joblessness, yes, but as her Life Coach would come to recognize, more than anything Beth just didn’t seem to know what to do next. She had already dealt with a drug addiction, and beat that. But now, she felt like
a deer in headlights.

Beth did have certainty in one area, she wanted to be the best mom she could be. So signing up for parenting classes was a no brainer. And that first step in the right direction got the ball rolling. Because of these classes, she started to see successes and she wanted more.

“For a while…I thought I was always going to be stuck in life…“I just want to be able to tell people that it’s never too late to start over again.”

— Beth
Former Water Street Guest

Not too long after, she sat down with her Case Manager, who encouraged her to dream up a new future for herself. For Beth, being financially stable was a major goal. But she realized she wanted more. Beth wanted to wake up and go to a job she loved, one that would support her and her son in the long run.

She applied for a scholarship at Lancaster County Career & Technology Center, and soon began her degree in Veterinary Technology. “It was tough balancing everything here, at school, and my son, but I had support here and anytime I felt like I couldn’t do it someone always lifted me up,” she says.

After graduating in two years, Beth got a job in her field, working with animals at a local animal hospital. Now she has her own apartment, spends quality time with her son, and is doing what she loves each day. “They’ll never be able to understand how much they helped me,” she adds.

In the end, Beth wants to share with others that there’s always hope. Experiencing what felt like a “home” to her at Water Street, helped her finally find a steady path forward. “For a while…I thought I was always going to be stuck in life,” she explains. “I just want to be able to tell people that it’s never too late to start over again.”

Watch a video of Beth’s Story :