Donna Decides to Go Home

Donna, a woman in her early thirties, came to California from West Virginia after the death of her young daughter. I do not know the circumstances, but there was some indication that the death of her daughter had been sudden and tragic. It seems Donna's way to cope with the grief was by going to a new place--one as far away from home as she could go. She wound up in San Diego in early 2008. Donna had hoped to find work and get settled, but this didn't work out and before long she was out on the street. After enduring homelessness, and like the prodigal son, Donna "came to herself" and decided to go home and reestablish a relationship with her father.

Donna had come to our church from time to time after she had become homeless. We had helped her with little things like making copies of her resume, bus tokes to look for work and similar things. On her most recent visit to our church she came with Traveler's Aid Society paperwork and was seeking a contribution toward bus fare in order to get back home to West Virginia. We talked a while about her home, her upbringing and her relationship with her father. He had recently has a great deal of trouble with his shoulder and could do little to care for himself. Both her parents were committed Christians. Her father a devout Methodist and her mother, no longer living, had belonged to the local Salvation Army church. Donna expressed a deep and strong faith in God.

As she was in the middle of trying her very best to convince me of how important it was for her to go home and care for her father, I wrote a pledge for the money needed on her form and handed it back to her. Donna stopped mid-sentence, looked at it and tears began to roll down her cheeks. She closed her eyes and whispered,"Thank you God." It was as if a very big burden had been lifted and she was now certain of going home soon. With many tearful thank-yous, Donna left for the Traveler's Aid Society office where she would turn in her paper and be issued a bus ticket to West Virginia.

This was a simple ten-minute exchange of need and supply--the sort of thing we do at our church on an almost daily basis. Yet it felt as if this were a real and significant turning point in Donna's life. It seemed almost a holy moment as this young woman turned her heart back to her father, her home and her God.