Homeless San Bernardino family finds hope for better future after 3 years of living on streets
A single mother and her family are now living in the newly-opened Angeles House designed to help struggling families.
LOS ANGELES (KABC) -- A San Bernardino family living on the streets was facing what seemed like a struggle with no solution, but when their story was shared to the world, their prayers were suddenly answered.
Courtney Lee, a 34-year-old single mother, was simply looking for a place where she and her young son Perseus along with her mother, Tierney Harris, could all live together.
For the past three years, the family has been homeless after leaving a domestic violence situation. Lee worked countless hours in a warehouse, but still couldn't afford a home for her family.
"I have no problem going to work, I have no problem being med compliant. I just need assistance with housing," said Lee during an interview with Eyewitness News last week.
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But in a matter of days, Lee's life has completely changed.
The family's story of hardship immediately caught the eye of Rev. Andy Bales, the CEO of the Union Rescue Mission, an organization dedicated to helping the homeless in Los Angeles.
"Once we talked to [ABC7 reporter Leticia Juarez,] she gave me the number for the Hope team ... so we talked her about 11, 11:30[a.m.] Our story was on by 5 o'clock that evening [and] by 7 p.m., Rev. Bales was like, 'Find them,'"
With the army of eyes on social media, Bales took to Twitter and vowed to provide the family a safe place to stay.
"We will make sure this family is under a roof tonight and from now on," he wrote.
Now, Lee and her family have found peace in the newly-opened Angeles House, an 86-unit apartment building in South L.A. designed to be a transitional home for struggling families with children.
"They are doing great, they are a fantastic family," said Bales of Lee and her family. "Too many families out there suffering needlessly when we could immediately house them and get them into a place like Angeles House."
As Lee looked at her son playing in his new home, the single mother hopes this marks the beginning of a new journey to a better future.
"I understand if people have no compassion for me as a 34-year-old woman and my mother as a 64-year-old, but my son deserves better," she said with tears in her eyes. "It isn't his fault that I had to come back, and it makes you feel like a failure because everyone just wants to make sure that their children are safe."
