Brenda

Vincent House & Booth Gardens, Seattle

Before moving to Providence Vincent House in 2010, Brenda was housing insecure because of health issues that prevented her from maintain a job. “Because I had worked every day, I started getting high blood pressure, and my PTSD was really the thing that caused me to make a transition.” Brenda also had differences with her daughter who she lived with, which forced her to move out.

Brenda was in and out of homeless shelters and living in transitional housing for about 5 months when her case manager informed her a studio apartment was available at Vincent House. She moved in the next week.

Brenda recalls a rainy Friday standing in line at the food bank thinking, “Lord, how did I get here? It was like an out of body experience looking at myself, rain pouring over me. Lord I have to get out of here…and the next thing you know that’s how I got to Vincent House.”

When Brenda moved into Vincent House she told the director, Jennifer Bachhuber, that she didn’t have any furniture or items to set up her apartment. “Now I have a bed and everything,” said Brenda. “Vincent House takes in the homeless first. People of different ways. Jennifer is the type of person who, if you tell her you need something, she works on it. She helps everybody.”

Jennifer and other caregivers helped Brenda get a bed, couch, coffee table, desk, microwave and more to setup her apartment.

“If you need something they are really thoughtful here.”

Brenda lived in a studio apartment at Vincent House for 8 years, and eventually transferred to another Providence Supportive Housing ministry to live with her daughter who was encountering her own health issues. She was notified of a 2-bedroom apartment available at Booth Gardens, another Providence Supportive Housing ministry, where they now live together.

Brenda describes home as, “where I can come in from outside. My own sanctuary and way of living.”