ANNETTE AND HER SON ARE WORTH FIGHTING FOR!
When Annette met her husband, she thought she had a perfect life. All seemed great. After a while, he became disrespectful. Annette shared, “His disrespect became abusive, and he started hitting me and spitting on me.” Annette continues, “one day became one year and one year became two years.” She started missing family gatherings and isolating herself. “I couldn’t even go to my grandpa’s funeral because I had bruises all over my face.”
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Annette finally had enough and asked her husband to leave. Crying, she shared, “he grabbed a beer can and started punching me in the face with the can, he broke my cheek and broke my nose. I tried to get to the window to pull the curtains off, but he grabbed me again, and it went on for a while.” She said she screamed and screamed, hoping someone would hear her. She was fearful for her life. “He would have killed me!” As she begged and pleaded for him to stop, telling him that something was very wrong, she let out one more loud scream, and he took her phone and ran out of the house. A water utility man came by and found her and took her to the hospital.
“Jesus is everything! I had a praying grandma, and I see how important that is. This faith-based program was exactly where I needed to be because God is the only one that is going to set you free from this, you don’t have the strength, but He does.”
Annette mustered up enough courage to press charges but knew it would mean a drastic change in her life. “I had a four-bedroom house and full of furnishings, I didn’t want to leave that. Nobody wants to walk away from that life.” To make a better life for herself and her son, she knew she needed help. That is when she turned to The Salvation Army. There she received hope and love. The Salvation Army helped her find a place of her own and get back on her feet. They taught her about Jesus and how much He loves and values her. Annette gladly shared, “Jesus is everything! I had a praying grandma, and I see how important that is. This faith-based program was exactly where I needed to be because God is the only one that is going to set you free from this, you don’t have the strength, but He does.”
“I am thankful to The Salvation Army for giving us a chance to be here and for feeding us and making us feel home.”
Now her son Tristan even benefits from The Salvation Army youth programs. He enjoys the UT students who come to assist in the program called homework club. He shared, “every Friday they (The Salvation Army) show movies and give us snacks, and during the week, after homework, you can play outside or in the gym.” Annette says Tristan is now a straight-A student who is thriving. Tristan continued, “I am thankful to The Salvation Army for giving us a chance to be here and for feeding us and making us feel home.”
Thanks to you and your support, families like Annette’s are being helped every day at the Joy D. Baker Center at The Salvation Army.