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| April, after her makeover! |
By Pamela Hale-Burns
The Something More Mentorship Program is still underway –
continuing to mentor women, encouraging, supporting and inspiring them on their
paths to restoration and new starts.
SM Founder and President Nancy Rench began the training process of
the program in July 2017, at Lydia House (LH), an
extension of The Long Beach Rescue Mission. The 50-bed facility provides solace and hope, for women and their children,
in the face of abuse, addiction, financial hardship and abandonment.
Today we introduce April Galvez, a 39-year old, divorced mother of
two adult children and an 8-year old son, who found herself at Lydia House in
November 2016.
“I ended up at the
Lydia House due to my addictions to meth, heroin, alcohol, and an abusive
relationship with my son's father,” she said.
It was an extremely dark
time in her life, one she didn’t think she’d ever see the light at the end of
the tunnel.
“It was a time
spiraling out of control. I was homeless, had my child taking away, and I was
tired of being tired,” she said. “My life was a sick scary rollercoaster
ride and I was done. So, God brought me out of my madness and into the Lydia
House.”
During her time at LH,
April crossed paths with Nancy, two months after graduating from the LH program.
“I was picked by my director
from the Lydia House and still to this day I don't know why she chose me, but
she did,” April said.
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| April, before makeover. |
“She’s my angel who
rescued me off the streets and gave me a second chance and brought me to God,”
she said. “I love her deeply.”
It was then April’s transformation
began.
“Ms. Nancy is my other
angel,” she said. “She’s kind, loving, and has the world’s biggest heart to
take a chance on someone like me.”
“They were doing God’s work equipping me
with a relationship with my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ,” she said. “I had a
life full of darkness, drugs, gangs, jail, prostitution molestations, rape, and
violence - done to me and me to others.”
It was time for a major
change, she said.
“I had been battling
my addiction for over 25 years. This is my first time ever being completely
sober for a year and 6 months,” she said with pride.
Meeting Nancy also gave
April someone she could trust with her life’s story.
“Nancy showed me
such gentleness, kindness and love,” she said of her first encounter with
Nancy. “I can confide in her and she keeps it between us. She has a heart of an
angel. I want to do the same someday when given an opportunity to help other
battered women like me.”
While she does get a
chance to serve others at Lydia House, April is looking forward to the next step
to restoration.
“Now I would love to
take the next journey God is taking me on as a mother,” she said. “The journey
of getting back into society, with hope and looking forward to an opportunity
to work, provide a home and not be homeless with my child ever again.”
She also hopes to one
day start a prison ministry to help other women in prison.
As with all mothers,
her hopes and dreams for her young son don’t veer far off the average path.
“For my son’s future,
I give it to my Father in Heaven - that's His department,” she said. “But I
want to provide a home for my son to rest his head, and not worry about ever
having to live on the streets again and teach him to never forget where we came
from, and to build a relationship with God together as a family.”
