In March of this year, Ashley Osborne and her adorable daughter Neveah came to live at The Restoration House. As an 18 year old, Ashley applied to The Restoration House with the desire to start a new life for herself and her 2 year old daughter. Since age 16 Ashley was a high school drop-out and couch homeless, moving she and her daughter around from one friend's house to another, with no place of their own or any sort of plan for the future. With the intention of transferring back to The Restoration House, Ashley began her journey by spending three months with TRH's partnering organization House of Courage. After gaining some household management & honing her parenting skills, Ashley moved into the small house of our 2329 Robinson Road location.

Ashley's earliest goals included gaining her GED, earning her driver's license and becoming a Certified Nursing Assistant (CNA). To most people this sound like a huge load to undertake, but with the help of her dedicated mentor team and her service coordinator at Goodwill Industries, Ashley soared quickly to success.

Through Goodwill Industries scholarship program, and working closely with her dedicated coordinator, Heidi Gilson, Ashley quickly began working on finishing her GED. Three days a week her mentor team offered childcare and transportation to help Ashley gain the tutoring and preparation needed to finish her goal. Simultaneously, through another scholarship program, Ashley was also able to gain her driver's license through the excellent work of Goodwill.

Ashley's next goal was to complete her schooling to become a CNA. Because of Ashley completion of her GED with Goodwill, she was able transfer directly into a CNA course where scholarship covered her course fees, books and even her uniform. During this time, Ashley's TRH mentors and Family Advocate continued to offer Ashley the guidance and supported needed to stay the course and push through. Throughout this time Ashley held on to an optimistic attitude and truly enjoyed the opportunity to learn and grow.

TRH is thrilled to announce that last Thursday Ashley graduated from her CNA course and is now actively seeking out a job opportunity! For the ceremony last week Ashley had her own little cheering section made up of her TRH family of 6 mentors who were all beaming with pride in her accomplishment.

Today Ashley, with the cash reward incentive she earned through her completion of courses at Goodwill, was able to purchase for herself car insurance to begin driving a ‘new to her' van. This van was given to The Restoration House by some very generous donors and then sold to Ashley for a fair, affordable price. The dignity and pride in Ashley's eyes today is something special that no one can take from her, she earned it for herself while being offered the support and encouragement she deserved all along.  And perhaps one of the most beautiful parts of all of this is that Ashley's success in her journey thus far is being made possible through the partnerships of people and organizations who are coming together for the good of this family's restoration, people who believe that God's intentions for Ashley and Neveah are good and better than she could ever imagine.

The staff and volunteer support system of The Restoration House are so proud of Ashley and genuinely cannot wait to see what God has in store for this young family. Please keep this sweet family in your prayers as Ashley seeks out perspective job opportunities and also continues her education with the desire to become a Registered Nurse.

Learn More, Partner More...

You may have noted already the theme of partnership this month. The Restoration House lives and breathes through partnership because together we can make a bigger and better difference in the lives of single mothers. With this mantra in mind, First Baptist Concord began hosting a Single Mother's Quarterly Roundtable. Hosted at Cokesbury United Methodist, on October 21^st from 7-8pm, various individuals and organizations will come together to begin discussion on how to better collaborate and serve the single mother families of our city. With the hope of sharing resources, beginning joint projects and getting to know each other better, organizations such as A Hand Up for Women, Habitat for Humanity, The Well and many more will attend. The roundtable offers an open invitation to anyone- individuals, volunteer groups or church leaders interested in better serving single families.