Angel trembled with fear as she stood outside St. Vincent de Paul’s homeless shelter in Dayton.

She wanted to turn around. She wished she had family members she could turn to who would help her. “I was scared to come to a place like this,” she said. “But now, I wish I would have come sooner.”

Angel is one of thousands of neighbors accompanied by St. Vincent de Paul at the shelter each year. The 24/7 haven provides shelter, food, clothing, and support for 200 men, women, and children each night. Staff and volunteers accompany these neighbors in need as they seek healing and housing.

There are countless reasons more than 10,000 Ohioans experience homelessness on any given night. In St. Vincent de Paul Society’s forty years of operating shelters in Montgomery County, one of the most common reasons guests report coming to the shelter is family conflict.

For many like Angel, that conflict began in childhood. She experienced abuse and neglect at the hands of close family members at a young age, and the childhood trauma left her struggling with anxiety and depression well into adulthood.

Despite her early struggles, she was one of the first in her family to graduate high school. However, lacking guidance and support to figure out what came next, she ended up in an abusive relationship that almost took her life.

Angel managed to escape and spent the next several years trying to get her life back together. She bounced around, couch surfing with friends and acquaintances, often finding herself in dangerous situations. “I was constantly restarting,” she explained. “There were times I got ahead, and I thought things were going good, and then circumstances changed, and things went bad.”

Then she became pregnant. All alone, except for the new life growing inside her, Angel wanted to give her baby a better start than she had and began seeking any and every resource that could help. She managed to get on a waiting list for housing, but the waiting seemed to go on forever.

With her baby’s due date fast approaching, she knew she needed stability—and fast. That was when she made the difficult decision to go to St. Vincent de Paul’s shelter, where she was welcomed with dignity and compassion. “Once I got settled, I was relieved,” she said. “I knew we were safe, and I finally felt like I could let go of a lot of that trauma and fear.”

St. Vincent staff and volunteers gave her a kind of guidance and care she never had before. They ensured her basic needs were met and helped care for her after her child was born. “We were taken care of,” she said. “We ate, we were healthy, we were clean. They guided me to a lot of resources, which is the reason my baby has everything he needs. They care, they listen.”

Now, instead of pain and fear, she holds hope—in her arms and in her heart. She gazes at her baby boy sleeping sweetly in her arms. They are only days away from moving into their new apartment and starting a new life. “It has been a blessing,” she said of her time at St. Vincent de Paul. “I’m really thankful for my time here. I’ve got more hope for what’s coming.”

In accompanying neighbors like Angel, St. Vincent de Paul Society answers God’s call to love our neighbors. This work is only possible thanks to the generous support from caring donors, volunteers, and community partners. You can learn more about how to help neighbors like Angel by visiting stvincentdayton.org. ✣

Jackie Scott is the Assistant Director of Mission Advancement at the St. Vincent de Paul Society, Dayton District.