By Sheila Buckmaster
What’s wrong with this picture? (Hint: plenty).
Gainfully employed as a CMT with a regular salary, Jasmine wasn’t able to pay her rent. After she was evicted from her apartment, she was effectively homeless (unless you think of a car as a home).
She had enough money for two nights a week at a local hotel. Some folks who cared a lot for her paid for a few other nights to make sure she had a roof over her head – at least sometimes.
How unfair that a skilled full-time job left Jasmine without enough funds to pay her monthly housing fee. That’s what’s wrong with this picture. Very wrong.
Talbot Interfaith Shelter to the rescue!
For one, TIS would place Jasmine closer to work. The day before she moved into TIS, she was interviewed by Executive Director Julie Lowe and by Fran Doran, then-Director of Operations. Fran also served as Jasmine’s Case Manager at Easton’s Promise.
Having grown up in a series of foster homes, Jasmine was skilled when it came to beginning relationships with those who could help her. No wonder she aced the interview, a process that,” she says “was very direct and clear.“ There were certain expectations and it would be my job to follow through on these. I knew it was for my betterment, so I made the decision to hold myself accountable.”
Her five-year-old daughter, who had been in the care of a former foster parent while Jasmine was navigating homelessness, would be moving into TIS’ family shelter, Easton’s Promise with her.
During the interview, this young child was accorded respect, “which made me feel very comfortable,” Jasmine recalls. She was asked about her background, what resources she would need along the way, and her goals. This helped Julie and Fran to get a sense of what Jasmine was all about “at my core,” Jasmine says. “Overall. I was given the platform to speak and advocate for both by daughter and myself.”
As noted earlier in this story, the two passed the test with flying colors and moved in to the shelter the very next day. That said, the provision of housing was just the beginning.
Jasmine worked all through her homelessness, and after moving into the shelter, she switched to a different facility. She now works as a CNA helping to care for dementia patients. Her experience at the Ultimate Medical Academy earned her an associate degree in health and human services. This higher-education stint furthered her caring skills. At the shelter, this ability helped her form relationships with the other guests. As part of her journey toward self-sufficiency, Jasmine took classes at TIS in money management and parenting. She was also assigned chores, including keeping the kitchen and dining room clean and helping with the laundry.
“I plan to return to school to pursue a master’s degree in clinical social work,” she says. Her goal? To hone her caring skills, expand her understanding of human behavior, and “ultimately support individuals and families through compassionate care.” Sound familiar? Yes, this is what Jasmine experienced at the shelter. “This path,” she continues, “aligns with both my lived experiences and my long-term commitment to helping others navigate growth, healing, and transition.”
“A relationship can become a vessel we enter to connect and learn” she continues. “While the ego,” she explains, “tells us we are choosing a relationship, the soul is assigned to learn lessons within it.”
She acknowledges that some connections are meant to be long-term; others, shorter.
Rounding out her words to live by, she offers, “What holds people back from growth is their resistance to shedding a version of themselves that no longer fits the next season in their lives.” An example she offers: “You wouldn’t bring your ten-year-old self to a corporate meeting, so why do we try to carry outdated parts of ourselves into new chapters?” She says that life is meant to be experienced, not clung to. “We all want the same thing—to make it, to have our lives have meaning.”
Not long ago, Jasmine and her daughter earned the next chapter in their lives, moving from the shelter to a TIS-subsidized home in the area. Her TIS experience brought her to this step toward self-sufficiency.
Articulate, poised, future-oriented, practical, wise, possessed of unbridled kindness, and having wicked smarts, Jasmine is a model of what TIS can achieve. She transformed homelessness into a life with meaning, a life to love.
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