Marion Brooks and her family were evicted shortly after she divorced her husband of 19 years. Following the eviction, Marion and her two children spent several holidays at the Rhode Island Family Shelter in Warwick. They faced repulsed looks from onlookers at the bus stop, work, and school. “When they found out we were homeless, they didn’t want anything to do with us. We lived in the shelter.”
With the help of House of Hope, Marion found an apartment, and her kids were able to become involved in school through House of Hope’s Youth Rap program. Youth Rap took them seal watching in Narragansett Bay and to the Boston science museum. The program also helped pay for her son Stephen’s little league fees and for her daughter Tiffany’s prom dress. Youth Rap provided Marion’s children with the support they needed.
Tiffany Brooks graduated from Pilgrim High School in Warwick and won several gold medals in the Special Olympics. Stephen Brooks won honors for his senior project at Warwick Veterans Memorial High School in which he envisioned placing solar panels at the Apponaug fire station. He graduated from the New England Institute of Technology in the spring of 2015. Marion Brooks is proud of her children and what they have achieved with the help and support from House of Hope.