Taylor was living in Fayetteville, Arkansas, in 2022, when he broke his arm, which caused him to miss several months of work. “By the spring of 2023, all my savings were drained, and I got evicted. I was in and out of tents or the one shelter in town, which is built to help 30 people at a time, meanwhile there’s a community of 200 people living in tents, trying to get by. So I struggled there for a couple of years, off and on. In April of this year, I started doing research outside of northwest Arkansas. Our House caught my attention, I kept looking into it, and everything I saw and read told me, hey, this is going to be your best resource. So my goal was to get to Little Rock. Some friends helped me get a Greyhound bus ticket so I could get here. I stayed in a hotel and checked every day until a bed became available at Our House.”
Once in our shelter, Taylor started connecting with our team to get the support he needed. “The staff here is very clearly equipped to handle situations. People here want to help, and can help, or at least connect you with the people who can.”
Like all of our adult residents, Taylor’s big priority in his first month in the shelter was to find a full-time job. “At first I struggled to find employment, because I have gaps in my resume. It was stressful at first. Nolen and Brittany in the Career Center both very politely gave me the encouragement I needed. And once I did start securing interviews and getting job offers, my stress subsided, and I was able to see the situation more clearly. And I came back to them and thanked them for being so patient and kind.”
Taylor is off to a great start in his job. “I work at Kum & Go in North Little Rock. Both day shifts and night shifts. For day shifts, I can get there by bus both ways. For night shifts, I have to take an Uber back. The job is fun. And it is nice to get to know the community.”
Taylor’s next big goal is to invest in his mental and physical health. “I’m bad at planning for the future. My grandma raised me, and I thought “she’ll be around forever,” and then she wasn’t, so I had to grow up very fast. When she passed, I had a lot of anxiety, and for a decade I was able to manage it with therapy and medication, and then eventually without medication. But everything I’ve gone through the past few years, I’ve gotten out of that routine, and I want to get back into it. So my goal is to get back with a therapist, to help me get back on track, and build up the tools again to manage my anxiety better. I’ve been moving slow on that because I wanted to get comfortable in my job and establish a routine. And I wanted to do that before I tackled the next big thing. And my mental health is the next big thing.”