Kerry moves from an encampment to housing, with Avivo’s help
Kerry and her kids faced incomparable tragedy on the reservation where she grew up. Now, she and her daughter are in their own apartment and are taking the next steps in their lives.
“I wanted to come down here to make myself a new family,” Kerry says, “so that’s what I’m doing. I’m rebuilding a family.”
Kerry grew up on the Red Lake reservation in northern Minnesota. During that time, she became addicted to drugs. Even though she tried to quit, she couldn’t. Then, disaster struck. Within the span of just a few months, both Kerry’s brother and her nephew were killed, and the father of her child died in a car accident.
Kerry says she needed to get away from the reservation to escape the grief. As she left, she made a promise to herself and to her kids:
“We’re going to move away from here,” she said to them, “but we’re all going to stay together.”
To Kerry, giving up wasn’t an option. For herself and for her kids, she had to keep pressing on.
But the transition hit her hard. When she moved to Minneapolis, she was homeless.
“I was homeless, I was on the streets, and I was in the encampment,” shares Kerry. “I was scared on the street… I was used to having my own stuff, I had never been homeless. Then there was winter time too.”
“I was homeless, I was on the streets, and I was in the encampment,” shares Kerry. “I was scared on the street… I was used to having my own stuff, I had never been homeless. Then there was winter time too.”
One day, she heard members of the Avivo street outreach team outside of her tent, asking if anyone was from Red Lake. Leaping at the chance, she immediately said yes.
“[One day] I heard, ‘Is anybody from Red Lake,'” shares Kerry. “I was like, I am! And it was Avivo outreach people, and they were so kind and just so caring…”
“[One day] I heard, ‘Is anybody from Red Lake,'” shares Kerry. “I was like, I am! And it was Avivo outreach people, and they were so kind and just so caring…”
Avivo staff worked quickly to help Kerry find stable housing. In just over a week, they got her off the street and put a roof over her head. Afterward, she moved into her own apartment with her 10-year-old daughter.
If she didn’t have the stable housing Avivo helped her find, Kerry says she wouldn’t be nearly as far along on her recovery journey.
“It helps me be able to do the next right thing, even when nobody’s watching,” she says. “It feels good to be able to do that.”
She is now also part of recovery support groups that are encouraging her and helping her to stay accountable in her journey to recovery.
As she took steps in her recovery journey and worked toward having her daughter rejoin her in her apartment, Kerry’s boyfriend was a pillar in her life. He drove her to treatment, supported her the whole way through, and even stepped up with her kids.
“My kids call him dad, which is a good thing,” she says. “He takes pride in that too.”
Kerry is looking forward to going back to school to become a social worker. Without Avivo, she says that she can’t even imagine herself being in the place she’s in now.
“I never thought I would find a family,” she says, “but now it’s so easy for us to just be together.”
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