NiQuanna was attending a liberal arts college, pursuing her dream of studying medicine. Then her step-father died of cancer, and NiQuanna opened her home to her grieving mother.

 

            NiQuanna’s boyfriend also lived with them, and when NiQuanna’s mother later died, he became increasingly abusive. NiQuanna had to escape, for her sake and for her little daughter’s sake. She was able to find temporary shelter with another relative, but soon that was no longer an option. What she truly needed was a place that would guide her to healing.

 

            And she found it at Joy House! “There was nowhere else to turn,” NiQuanna remembers. “God opened a door. Joy House was there for my daughter and me.”

 

            God opened that door by providing concerned friends like you who give to support Joy House’s programs at MRM. The impact on NiQuanna’s life, and her daughter’s, is nothing short of amazing.

 

            “I don’t need to focus on survival here,” she says. “I can see the bigger picture, and the future is more secure. The Lord has shown me what Love is--people who don’t really know you but pray for you and want to see the best for you. Someone is in your corner [here] rooting for you.

 

            “No longer is my daughter afraid of ‘the monster,’ the abuser and the abuse in our lives. She is getting her childhood back. She is no longer trying to protect her mother or think she needs to worry about her mother, and she can be a kid again.”

 

            NiQuanna’s goals today are centered on walking closely with the Lord and raising her daughter as a joyful child of God. “I want to put God in front, middle, and last in my life.” She is also planning to go back to school to earn a teaching degree. “It was the first goal I set for myself that I never completed,” she says sadly, and she’s determined to do it so she can make a good, secure home for her daughter.

 

            To you, as a faithful friend of the Milwaukee Rescue Mission, she says, “God bless you. We need you. Anything you give can turn someone’s life around. Every little bit helps.”