Thanks to 211, we are on our way
Newly unemployed, Allen, a single dad with two school-age children, took on whatever odd jobs he could find in order to keep his family housed. The slow trickle of income wasn’t enough and he no longer could afford rent. This military veteran and his young children unfortunately became homeless. Allen slept in a car parked behind his friend’s house as his children shared the bedrooms of his friend’s kids.
Despite a string of setbacks, including an accident that totaled his car, Allen tried to remain focused on the little hope he had left. Allen then called South Sound 211, a telephone hotline operated by United Way of Pierce County that connects people to a wide array of community services designed to help them become self-sufficient.
211 has an extensive referral database of community services ranging from childcare to transportation to employment services—all support systems that can help families transition successfully out of homelessness.
Allen credits 211 for assisting him in his journey from being homeless to being housed. “I was accepted into a townhouse and I took my entire paycheck and used it to move us in. We had no food and no furniture but we had our own place. My kids were happy, which is all that mattered to me. I told myself that we’d struggle for a little while but I would do everything I could to get us on our feet. Thanks to 211 we are on our way.”