Being homeless is hard. Being homeless with two young boys is close to impossible. Yet that’s where Laila was after an injury caused her to lose her job in Bellevue. With no family or community to help, she and her boys soon found themselves in a shelter.
“It was so sad. That shelter was no place to raise kids,” Laila said. “My kids were acting up, and it was hard to raise them there. My family is everything to me.”
Determined to improve the situation of her family, Laila worked hard to get her boys out of the shelter and found her way to Compass Housing Alliance.
“I applied right away to Compass on Dexter,” she said. “Luckily, we got in.”
At Compass, Laila found the necessary support to rebuild her family’s life. “My kids were young when we first moved here,” she said. “Compass was so good to us, good for my sons. Robert [Bowery, a former Compass program director seen in the picture with Laila] was always there for us. He would care for my kids, reaching out when we had problems. Compass gives a lot of support for moms.”
With the stability Laila and her boys found at Compass, they have all flourished. For Laila, that means she has had time to explore art through sewing.
“When I sew, it’s how I take back my space,” she said. “I work through my stress and everything through sewing. When I’m sewing, I’m out of everything and just feel calm. Having a place to just shut everything out and do this is so important. Stability is important.”
Laila showcased her talent by exhibiting a hand-sewn traditional Moroccan dress and a gorgeous tablecloth at our Homeward Gala. They were showstoppers.
“I’m glad people liked them,” she said. “I learned how to sew when I was in Morocco. Grandma taught me. She made handmade carpets, and I was very close to her. She brought me up. She taught me even though I was young. She did everything for her family. That’s what I am trying to do.”
For the boys, stable housing has paved the way to a bright future.
“Living here has given my family a real chance at a good life,” Laila said. “I’ve raised my two sons here. They are both now going to college. My older one wants to work for the Seattle Police Department and eventually the FBI. My younger son wants to be a doctor. They are almost grown now, but they will always be my babies.”
Here at Compass, we build community to ensure that families have a place to survive, grow, and thrive – families just like Laila’s.
