MOORESVILLE, N.C. — A community group is using a non-judgmental approach -- with dignity and faith as core values -- to provide hope to women and children living in Mooresville without a home.
"We want everyone here to be able to live with dignity, just like all the other people have those opportunities in the world," explained HOMe Hope of Mooresville executive director Amy DeCaron.
HOMe Hope of Mooresville is a 501(3)(c) organization that specifically provides temporary, safe shelter and support services to Mooresville's homeless women and children.
"I was in a really bad place living in Charlotte with drugs, sirens, killings," Melissa Cables, who arrived at the shelter three months ago, said.
Teresa Schaeffer has lived in the shelter for seven months.
"From the bottom of my heart, they saved my life," Schaeffer claimed.
DeCaron said a group of caring community members opened the "hope house" in 2017 after they noticed a gap in the services provided for women like Cables and Schaeffer.
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"We want the kids to feel like this is a place where 'I can play with my brother, and I can do my homework, and mom can make a meal.' And it's just the same as living on your own," DeCaron said.
Admission to Hope of Mooresville requires an interview process. Once women are accepted, they are offered case managers, connection resources, mentoring, parenting classes and other types of support to overcome their hardships.
"It could be therapy, it could be parenting classes, it could be budgeting, we provide all of that so that you are prepared," DeCaron said.
The shelter thrives with the help of volunteers who help with tasks ranging from housing upkeep to driving children to medical appointments.
Perhaps the happiest occasion is graduation day, when women and their families move out of the shelter and into their first apartment -- a day that will come soon for Schaeffer.
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"I got a call last week saying that I would say that my application was approved, and I can move in in mid-December," Schaeffer told WCNC.
Cables, who is working toward her chance to leave, is thankful for the opportunity to heal in the home that welcomed her with open doors.
"I'm so grateful and thankful for the love and happiness that they have put my heart, and my family come up in like this have to worry about me anymore," Cables said, with tears welling up in her eyes.
Contact Fred Shropshire at fred@wcnc.com and follow him on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.