New Year. New Home. New Hope.

All of us at Yellow Roof Foundation wish you and yours a Happy, Healthy New Year and we thank you for all of the support that allows us to make this very special introduction.

Meet our First Gonsalves Village Residents!

We are so thankful that our grassroots approach, including building relationships with the community and the Pittsburg Unified School District, has brought us six very deserving families who are overwhelmed by the opportunity to move into a new, furnished home at Gonsalves Village. We're looking forward to welcoming them to the Yellow Roof family!

• - JS is a physical education teacher and serves as a praise and worship leader and youth choir director at her church.  She and her teenage child are currently renting a room they share together which alone takes over half of her monthly income.  Added to the costs of commuting, food and other essential expenses, they feel they have always been taking 2 steps forward but somehow being pulled 5 steps backwards never reaching the true potential of who they really are.  Now it's time to just walk forward!
• - AA is an administrative worker in a local government office.  In the middle of the night she fled a physically abusive relationship with her two children.  Since that time they have been floating between motels and friends' homes, always hoping for someone to take them in.  Currently AA shares a couch with one child while the other sleeps on a blow up mattress on the floor next to them. Although she and her children have been dealt a hard set of cards in life, she is determined to show them "I can do it and we can be happy."
• - NR works for a security company.  She and her child have been unhoused for 8 years.  They currently are renting a room they share in a home where there is frequent fighting between other residents which NR does not want her child to experience, so when they are "home," they are not comfortable leaving the room.  Their home at Gonsalves Village will be the first time her child has ever had a private bedroom!
• - TG works in sales for an equipment retailer.  After a divorce in 2019 she and her special needs child shared a home with roommates to divide costs.  When the others moved out without notice it left her unable to afford to stay.  They, too, are now sharing a room they rent in a home where they are unable to use the kitchen, so are limited to take out or microwaved foods.  They are so excited to be able to cook together in their new kitchen!
• - NJ is a home health provider.  She and her child are currently living in various short term rentals or motel rooms. Trying to eat well, let alone save, is extremely challenging in these circumstances but she is committed to improving her circumstances for her health, and the health of her child. 
• - EC is an assisted living caregiver. She and her child are currently sharing a room in a home where they often feel threatened. She expressed that this opportunity will not only allow them to get back on their feet, but allow her to further her education so that they will never be in their current situation again.

These women and their stories are so powerful. The words from JS to us say it all; "My children (she also has an older child in college on scholarship) are amazing and have rolled with me through the highs and lows eviction after eviction...not because I mishandled money or didn't work, but because I didn't make enough. I have never been married and did not have financial help or stability to ever maintain anything...I am a hard worker. I went to college and everything so why am I so far behind? Why has it just not worked out for me? Why do we struggle so? I used to walk the streets on cold nights peering into the yellow glow of warm houses noted by the smoke from the fire place chimneys wondering how they got so lucky and thinking I work just as hard but not knowing how to ever possess such a blessing. I know good exists and in your organization 'Yellow Roof' is the tangible proof I asked God to show me. Thank you for all that you are doing to provide second chances."

THIS is why our mission is so important!  Each and every one of these single moms are working hard to care and provide for their families, but finding affordable, safe and secure housing has eluded them due to life circumstances and the cost of living in the Bay Area.  Because Yellow Roof rents are income based, they will finally have a truly affordable place to call home, and hope for a brighter tomorrow!