Heather Randolph is hoping Santa will bring her a new home for Christmas. She and her two children have lived in a hotel on South Tryon Street since April.
The single mom may get her wish, thanks to a charity program that has put her name on a waiting list for affordable housing.
However, money is still in short supply, so Randolph has turned to the Salvation Army for help getting gifts for her two children, ages 2 and 4.
The agency?s Christmas Bureau, which is funded in part by the Observer?s Empty Stocking Fund, is seeking help in supplying toys to 14,000 children this year.
?If we don?t get into a home by Christmas, I?ve already got a tiny plastic Christmas tree now in the hotel room, and we?ll do a little bit of decorating,? she says. ?I have to do something to make it feel like Christmas.?
Experts aren?t sure exactly how many of Charlotte?s homeless families live in extended-stay hotels, but it?s in the hundreds, based on emergency housing provided during the Democratic National Convention. More than 300 people sought help with housing after rents skyrocketed at many motels during the convention.
Randolph says she ended up in a hotel after she lost her job and rent on her two-bedroom apartment went up $120 to nearly $900 a month. By contrast, the hotel charges only $200 a week and that includes utilities for a two-burner stove and a microwave.
There?s only one bed, and they all share it. Neither of the kids seems to mind living in a hotel, or that most meals involve macaroni and cheese or chicken and rice, Randolph says. But she?d like a little privacy sometimes, in a room that doesn?t include a toilet.
?My son, Isaiah, is the outgoing one, and if I?m down and out, or crying, he?ll tell me, ?Don?t cry, because I?ll always be here for you,??? she says.
The kids will get a fancy Christmas dinner, Randolph says, but it will likely come already prepared from Food Lion. They don?t have expensive tastes and are hoping Santa brings toy cars and anything related to Woody from ?Toy Story? or Dora the Explorer.
Salvation Army officials say the Randolph family probably will have its new two-bedroom apartment by Christmas.
Randolph, who has found a steady job, is signed up for the agency?s new Rapid Rehousing program, which offers short-term rent subsidies for homeless families who just need a little time to get back on their feet. More than 52 families have been helped through the program since it launched in April, officials said.
The apartment won?t be furnished, but Hamilton may find help with that through the Crisis Assistance Ministry Free Store, which supplies furniture to struggling families.
Randolph, who gets child support, says it?s the second chance she?s been looking for since the economy went sour. She moved to Charlotte six years ago from a small town in Virginia, after an engagement fell apart.
The big city proved nothing like her dreams. She spent time in a homeless shelter and made some bad choices that landed her in front of a judge more than once.
Now, with a full-time job and the promise of a home, Randolph is thinking good old-fashioned hope is the greatest Christmas gift of all.
Source: http://www.charlotteobserver.com/2012/12/02/3701969/a-home-among-gifts-family-seeks.html
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