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Testimonials
"The Roberts Family" When we first moved to Oregon, times were already proving to be difficult. Even though I was able to get an apartment, it would prove to be to much to keep up with. I am a single mother of two wonderful boys, never got child support, and didn't have any family support as well. I wanted badly to better our lives and get a degree so I started going to PCC. I had to first get my GED, which I did, then I started working on my prerequisites for x-ray technician. Well between work, school, and being a single mother trying to be home for her boys, the bills became to much of a strain and my oldest was rebelling. I was spreading myself out to thin and needed to be at home with my boys. I also had to do something before I got another eviction on my record. God knows I didn't want that again. I had no where to go and was loosing everything, my job, our belongings (although not much), had to quit school, and my oldest son was running away for the first time. My heart was broken and I was scared. I felt I had no where to turn and was on my own. I called a help line and was told about the Good Neighbor Center. I put myself and my youngest on a waiting list and prayed we would get a call. My oldest son decided he wanted to stay with his friend instead of the shelter and I was ok with that because he really liked the school he was going to. I got a call about two and a half weeks later and was told to come in. I had no one to help me move anything in a very short time frame, so most of what we did have was now given away or thrown away. I went in and was approved to stay at the shelter. We literally walked in with one suitcase of clothes. While we were there, we were treated kindly and with respect. We did our chores and were glad to do so. I went to classes there during the day and also was job searching. My son went to a school close by the shelter. They had table of things to pick from that we were able to get clothes, toys and house hold goods to keep. I soon got a job at a salon and was working with staff to find an apartment for all three of us. The shelter payed for my deposit and when we left, we had a Uhaul full of furniture, beds, bedding, clothes, and dishes. My oldest son came home and I was thrilled!! The nightmare was over and we were all together. I was able to pay my rent and had confidence in myself again. We were mightily blessed from the Good Neighbor Center and we will never forget it. I have recommended GNC to many others I learned who was in some trouble with being homeless and alone. The staff there are SO understanding, and caring. They truly made a difference that we are forever grateful for.
"The Watson Family"
My family and I had the good fortune to be allowed to stay at Good Neighbor Center a little over a year ago. When we got there, we had nowhere to go and no idea how we were going to make through the winter. With a little hard work and encouragement from the staff, we now have our own apartment. My wife works at TJ MAXX and I just finished 2 years at ITT-Tech with my associate’s degree and I am looking forward to our future which now has no bounds. With the help of the staff at the Good Neighbor Center, we know there is nothing we can't accomplish. The staff showed us that with a little hard work you can accomplish anything you put your mind to. Thank you so much so much for help you provided to me and my family. Sincerely, Kyle Watson Sr.
"The Arellano Family" Up thru March of 2009 my husband was working a good job, I was staying home with at the time our 2 boys, and we had a wonderful home. Then the next thing we knew my husband was being laid off due to the economy and we ended up not being able to make our bills and ended up hitting some really hard times. We were up in Montana and we ended up in a family shelter up in Montana. We ended up making a decision to come to Portland. I grew up here and we felt like this is where we needed to be so in November 2009 we moved to Oregon. In December 2009 we moved into a room at the Good Neighbor Center. The staff at the GNC was always so wonderful and full of support. I was early in a pregnancy when we first started staying there and sadly while we were there I ended up miscarrying, the staff was very supportive to my family during that time. Both myself and my husband had daily chores as did all adults and while nobody likes to clean, it was nice to feel like we were contributing even if it is just cleaning. We took classes to help with stress management and we created weekly goals in our weekly meetings. While we were there both my husband and myself were able to find employment and shortly after that with the help of the GNC my family on February 1st 2010 moved into our own apartment. Being back in our own apartment has been so wonderful. We have lived in our home for a little over a year now. A little over a month after being in our new home I found out that we were expecting; and 9 months later we had a beautiful baby girl. Like any family we still have our struggles. 10 months after moving into our home on October 7th 2010 our 2 yr old son was diagnosed with leukemia. Then a month later is when I went into labor with our daughter. Plus we have a 8 yr old son. Throughout all this even though we know longer reside at the GNC the staff there is still very supportive and very caring. Even though we have our struggles with what we know now we are still making it. We struggle sometimes because between hospital admissions and chemotherapy and many different appointments it does make it difficult sometimes, but we know how to properly budget to where we know we will stay okay. And we still make goals and plan for the future. We are actually looking into buying our first home within a year.
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