Audrey’s Story

🌟 Participant Feature: Meet Audrey 🌟​

​For years, Audrey weathered the storm of a marriage consumed by alcoholism. She met her husband when they were both lumberjacks, cutting down trees for a living. It was a different time in life and as one of only a handful of women working in the industry, Audrey knew how to handle herself. 🌲👩‍🔧​

It wasn’t long into the marriage before her husband began to mirror the actions and addictions of her own father and she found herself stuck in an abusive and neglectful relationship. After twenty years of marriage, Audrey gathered the courage to break free from her husband and start a new life with her four daughters, two of whom were still living at home. Housing was expensive and with the effects of years of abuse still impacting her everyday life, she was unable to maintain a job. She eventually found herself living in a shelter and trying desperately to figure out how to find a safe and secure place to live. For years she would bounce between shelter life, and couch surfing in the home of one of her daughters hoping for a way to move forward. 🏠💔​

In December of 2023, Audrey found Ruth & Naomi’s Interchange and has been living in the supportive housing program since. ‘I can’t explain the huge feeling of relief knowing it was actually over. I feel safe here and I’m learning to take care of myself again. Jenny (RAN staff) is helping me to learn to budget, and I hope to get my own apartment one day.’ Audrey is thankful for a place to call home, for her own room, for the programs that she can be part of at the Interchange, and for the hope that she now has for the future. 🌟🏠🧡​