From desperation to joy. Virginia's story.

Way back in September of 2018, I told you, dear friends and supporters of Shower Shuttle Shower and now the Laundry Shuttle, about Virginia. It was a sad story of how sometimes, no matter how much you’d like things to be different, sometimes they just aren’t. It was a story of a broken woman who had been through much.  She was alone and scared and didn’t feel like there was one soul in the world that she could trust, not even me … and I asked you to pray for her.

I saw Virginia again last Wednesday while on location with the Shower Shuttle at the Vine House. She was with her fellow workers of the Downtown Streets Team, wearing a bright yellow shirt that denotes her employment with them.  I’ve built a relationship with her the last year and a half … praying for her as she came to shower, as she expressed a desire to go to rehab, lived at MOES (Modesto Outdoor Emergency Shelter, or Tent City) for a time, struggled with addiction, the results of poor choices and failing health. I am blessed to call her my friend.

I went over to her, and as we made eye contact, we hugged.

“How are you?” I asked her, seeing the brightness in her eyes, her healthy skin color, her big smile.

“I’m good!” she told me. “I’m at the shelter now.”

“Yay!” I exclaimed. “How’s it going over there?”

“It’s okay,” she said. “We’re all adjusting. I’m clean now too.”

“That is awesome!” I said and couldn’t help but hug her again. “You look amazing, your eyes are so bright and I love your smile!”

“You know what?” she asked me. “It’s good to be clean.” I listened further to understand if she meant physically from a shower and living inside, or clean from the drugs that had kept her in bondage for so long.

“My son called me the other day because he needed some help with diapers,” she continued. “And before, I didn’t have it. I’d always spent all my money on drugs,” she said. “But this time, I told him to come and get my Walmart card (the Downtown Streets Team pays their employees in gift cards) and he was able to get diapers for the baby. It felt good to be able to help him.”

“I am so proud of you!” I exclaimed. “You’ve come so far and are making all the right choices, even the really hard ones!”

“Remember when we were praying for you to get into a place and rehab and it didn’t happen?” I asked her. “Look at you now! The Lord has certainly answered our prayers!”

She smiled a great big smile, her whole face lighting up.

“You know what?” she asked me. “I have a new grandbaby coming too! And they don’t have any extra money for a crib. I’m going to take my next ‘paycheck’ and buy them a crib for Christmas! It feels so good to be able to do that, to help them when they need it.”

This simple statement quite literally took my breath away for a second. This very broken woman who only 15 months ago was desperate and alone and without even shoes for her feet has taken the hand up and is doing all she can to reunite with family, make a better life for herself, break the bondage of addiction, and my heart swelled a little with joy for her.

“I am so very, very proud of you Virginia,” I told her, hugging her yet again. I kissed her forehead. “You are doing it. It was hard sometimes, I know. But you did what you had to do and look at you now!”

Kelli Ott and Virginia

Her smile was brighter than the sun, and I asked her if I could take a picture with her. She said yes (photo printed with permission) and you can see the joy in her face. The joy of being able to tell me how well she was doing. The joy of being clean and experiencing the rewards of making the tough choices to put down the drugs and choosing life and family over the hopelessness of addiction. We hugged hard once more, and she went into the house to get something warm to drink, I went to tend to our shower guests.

You know what? We did it too. We at Shower and Laundry Shuttle who consistently show up and offer showers and hope and love and family, and you who consistently prayed for our guests and for us, every single day.

We made an impact in her life and loved her and helped her when she was at her lowest, and we will continue to do it for others with your love and support and prayers. Because, just the other day I had a conversation with the sister of another of our guests. A woman who loves her sister and doesn’t understand the choices she is making and why she won’t put down the drug and just come home. There are many, many broken and hurting lives out here we are touching and making a difference in … every single day.

Thank you so very much for being here for us. Continue to pray, for they ARE making a difference! And if there is any way for you to support us financially, please go to showershuttle.org and donate ... any amount once or monthly will go directly to those who need it most.

“But I have trusted in Your mercy; my heart shall rejoice in Your salvation. I will sing to the LORD, because He has dealt bountifully with me.”  Psalm 13:5-6 (NKJV)