Patrisha McLean: Destiny
"It didn't seem real," Destiny said, about learning that someone had donated a car in perfect condition to the Knox County Homeless Coalition, and that she was selected by the staff to receive it.
She took driving classes and got her driver's license and on June 15 one of the staff members, Laurie, handed her the car keys, while another, Ev, looked on, beaming.
According to Destiny, this gift is a life-changer. She didn't mind not having a car when she lived in Portland but here, "You really can't survive without a vehicle because everything is so far away."
"It's hard to be consistent, hard to be on time and hard to feel like a burden, always having to ask people for help." One of her two children is in special education. "The school pretty regularly needs me to pick him up and I have to get him that moment. Sometimes it will be an hour or so wait for a taxi so I call everyone I know and hope and pray that somebody will be able to bring me."
"I was spending $40 a week in taxis getting out twice a week and that's just grocery shopping, not doing anything fun or taking the kids somewhere," she said. With local taxi fare starting at $9, and $5 added every time a town line is crossed, a doctor's appointment in Belfast can be a budget-busting crisis.
| The Knox County Homeless Coalition can only provide shelter for 20 to 30 people at any one time – five percent of their active caseload – between the Hospitality House, campgrounds and motel rooms. The coalition helps hundreds more with comprehensive case management, housing, career and general education, navigating benefits that they are entitled to with VA, Maine Care and Social Security, gaining life skills, medical and emotional support, and, perhaps most important confidence. The mission is delivering wraparound services with respect, dignity and genuine caring that brings homeless families back to sustainable, productive lives within our community. |
This time last year, Destiny and her boys had just moved into the Hospitality House homeless shelter on Old County Road in Rockport.
"I had lost everything. My life has been a series of unfortunate events and when you're down that long you don't expect that things will ever improve." But every day, the staff, and especially Ev ("a big bowl of sunshine"), and Darlene, "told me, 'you're smart and you are going to do this.'"
Last fall her caseworker, Amy Meserole, helped her to move her family into an apartment of their own. Her 12-year-old son, a musical prodigy who received a keyboard from a volunteer at the shelter, is thriving in after-school music lessons.
The Tiffany-blue Mini Cooper came with a card from the owner, a woman with family in Camden who teaches at-risk youth in New York City: "I hope this takes you where you want to go."
In the long-term for Destiny, that means a better paying job than one she can walk to, and a quicker graduation with the degree that will enable her to teach art, because she can more consistently attend her classes at the University of Maine, Augusta. And the place she and her boys will go on their first family trip?
"We're just going to drive. Stop everywhere I see that is beautiful," she said.
If you are thinking about trading in an old car, or have one that is never or barely used, please consider donating it to the Knox County Homeless Coalition. Call 593-8151 or email Dawna Hilton at dhilton@homehelphope.org.
Patrisha McLean is a volunteer with the Knox County Homeless Coalition, and is also a children's photographer and calligrapher.
