One Family affords Lynn woman second chance in life

LYNN – The two notices in Stephanie Christian’s Walnut Street mailbox could not have been more different.It was five years ago that the lifelong Lynn resident and single mother came home to a 14-day eviction notice, one that would likely force her to move back into her parent’s small home. A notice that would make her, as she called it, one of the “invisible homeless.”Down, depressed and demoralized, Christian fingered through the rest of her mail, wondering what she was going to do. She couldn’t come up with that kind of money in two weeks and knew that she and her child were looking at some rough seas ahead.That was when she opened the second piece of mail that changed her life that day – an acceptance letter from One Family, a not-for-profit organization that helps homeless families by offering service and financial support while parents attend school.”Sometimes life doesn’t always go according to the text book,” said Christian. “I had an apartment over on Walnut Street and I was living paycheck to paycheck, really living right on the edge with my daughter. I got to the point where I had a 14-day notice in the box. It was actually the same day I got my acceptance to One Family.”Determined to turn her life around, Christian enrolled in the marketing program at Salem State College in 2004, using the help she received from One Family to pay her bills while she was studying.After persistently pursuing the school’s prestigious nursing program, Christian was finally accepted and began studying to become a registered nurse.Now, five years after being on the brink of homelessness, Christian is hoping to start working full time at the Tufts University Medical Center and credits the majority of her success to One Family.”They saved me at a very critical point in my life, I had just started to move forward and then I got hit with that 14-day notice,” said Christian.”One Family is great because they not only help financially, but they help support you too. They offer parenting classes, classes on job interviews, budgeting, things like that.”Along with her new degree from Salem State, which she picked up at Saturday’s commencement ceremony, Christian and the 37 other scholars completing the program this year were honored by the organization at the annual Mothers of Inspiration Gala last month.One Family was started by Gloucester residents Paul and Phyllis Firemen and family with the mission of ending family homelessness in Massachusetts.The scholars program offers flexible scholarships that provide either school tuition or money for rent and childcare.”With family homelessness numbers on the rise, attention needs to be on prevention and helping mothers and families break the cycle of homelessness,” said One Family Executive Director Denise Durham Williams. “One Family Scholars is a unique and successful program that helps formerly homeless at-risk mothers attain a college education so they can enter careers that will allow them to support their families.”Christian is one of 125 scholars to receive aid in the 2008-09 academic year and says every single one of the homeless mothers has become like a sister to her since joining the program.”One Family is really like your family. They help you like your mom would or your dad would,” she said. “It is like having a family without all of the family drama. It is like I have 125 sisters.”Christian has recently moved to Malden, leaving Lynn for the first time, and is hoping to soon begin working full time at Tufts. She says she hopes to keep in close contact with the One Family program and help new scholars by becoming a mentor.