Here Now - formerly homeless, Wilmington mom settles into a better life.

Si Cantwell
Star-News

Kristi Lee didn't get many breaks in life before she moved into Good Shepherd Center. Her options ran out in June. Pregnant and the mother of three, she was thinking about giving her baby up for adoption. She called 411 and asked about homeless shelters. That's when her life began to turn around. Our area's safety net caught her and helped her get back on her feet. Now she lives in an airy second-floor apartment on Harnett Street. She's studying at Cape Fear Community College. Lee grew up in Oxford, northeast of Durham. She was studying at Vance-Granville Community College when she left school to marry. She had her first two children, Kaley and Frederick Brown, in 2001 and 2002. Halle Lee was born in 2005.

After seven years the marriage broke up. Lee moved back to Oxford with her mother, but her stepfather didn't want her family in his house. "Every so often he would kick us out," she said. In fact, that's why she had married at 19, she said. She'd been kicked out of her mother's house and felt she had no other choice. Three kids later, she alternated staying with her. Every time she had to leave her mother's house, she'd scramble to provide a home for her kids. "It would just knock me back in life," she said. "I was just dependent on someone else." Then she realized she was pregnant again. She moved back in with her mother, staying in one room with the kids. A vacation to Wilmington resulted in a family quarrel and she knew she couldn't go back to her mother's house. She had no place to stay.

That's when she called 411 and learned about the Good Shepherd Center. Lee, pregnant and due in a couple of months, moved into the emergency shelter on Martin Street in June. She and her three kids occupied one of the family rooms. At first the children were scared. But when they saw the toys and the television in the family area, they were delighted. They felt it was a space of their own. "We hadn't even had our own beds for a long time," Lee said. "They were happy”. The men and women staying at Good Shepherd ushered the family to the front of the line at mealtimes and advised her where to find services. They stayed at Good Shepherd for about two months before the Good Shepherd's housing specialist helped her obtain a housing subsidy. Jasey Lee was born in August, about the time the family moved into the apartment. Good Shepherd and various churches paid deposits and first bills. A pastor who is also a car dealer gave her a van. Now Lee is studying to become a music teacher. She feels more confident. "Last night we said our prayers," she said. "It ended up working out for us".