Catherine left her husband the day he threatened to kill her and bury her body in the desert.
Ending 22 years of physical and emotional abuse, she packed her bags and moved out with her daughter, then 15.
For a while the two managed, though money was tight. After her daughter left for college, however, Catherine began to fall apart. For six months, she worked delivery services during the day and slept in her 1996 Oldsmobile most nights. When she could afford it, she would check into a motel for a shower and a bed.
Finally, in September 2015, Catherine linked up with community workers who got her a bed at a local shelter. Four months later, they found her a studio apartment in a low-cost housing project.
“I was so grateful and so thankful to God that I had a place. Like, it was a bed. And it was a shower every day,” says Catherine, who declined to share her last name. “You couldn’t even imagine.”
[For more of this story, written by Jessica Mendoza, go to http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/S...ome-feel-left-behind]
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