117 Stories

Story #23

Story #23 – Whats your story…

I remember the first volunteer orientation I conducted. When telling these amazing people of all the wonderful things FCS does, several of them started to cry. I was so moved by the love in others hearts. FCS has shown me the true beauty of humanity. To give of oneself for another is something I experience almost daily as the volunteer coordinator. The residents are continually blessed by the generosity and giving spirits of our community. Thanks to all who inspire me and the residents of FCS to be the best we can be!

P, 27: A Safe Haven

This review of Florence Crittenton Services of NC was found on Superpages, and demonstrates once again the lifelong impact FCS makes.

Notably good service experience:
I am a former resident of this facility. Although the circumstances that brought me there were not the most pleasant my experience while there was life changing. I often said that one day I would love to return to this one or one in my city/state and work/give back. I know that my stay at the Charlotte home affected my choices in life, love, and career. The staff there were very attentive, caring, and understanding. Thank you for supplying a safe-haven for young women who otherwise wouldn’t have one.

If you like the stories we have been sharing, please consider giving a gift to support these girls and women and their families.
https://crittentonofnc.org/giving-opportunities/

Story #21

Story #21

Legacy Hall, full of success stories….

FCS’s independent living program for non pregnant adolescents in foster care has had a week filled with celebration.

Through out the past few years this program has steadily grown and strengthened and is now proud to boast it is serving more clients than ever before. It is so wonderful to see our Legacy Hall family grow, for that is what it is… a family. Our residents have the opportunity to hone their life skills in preparation for adulthood, while simultaneously forming lifelong friendships.

While the number of clients is increasing their successes are as well. This week, two of our girls graduated from High School. With the support of each other, staff, tutors, mentors, and other volunteers, our residents were able to devote their time and ability and achieve this huge milestone. We celebrate with them, and cheer them on to more successes in the future.

If you like the stories we have been sharing, please consider giving a gift to support these girls and women and their families.
https://crittentonofnc.org/giving-opportunities/

Story #20

Story #20

I work on Legacy Hall at Florence Crittenton which caters to non pregnant/non parenting teens aging out of the foster care system.

Our goal is to help them get on their feet and learn skills including employment, budgeting, and housing so that they could move out on their own successfully.

I enjoy spending time with the foster care clients in the program. The challenges of the position are highly motivating.

Witnessing the girls successes: graduating from high school or substance abuse rehabilitation, getting their permits or getting their first job, making better grades and raising their grade point averages, improving their attendance at school… or failures that they learn from: what clothes not to wash together, how not to cook an item, groceries that don’t last all week, having to work out taking turns cleaning their bathrooms… all make incredible learning experiences for us all.

Florence Crittenton Services has made a difference in my life because it has given me the opportunity to make investments in people,  and that opportunity is truly important to me!

If you like the stories we have been sharing, please consider giving a gift to support these girls and women and their families.

Giving

Tammy, 16: Love Yourself

Hi, my name is Tammy and 17 years ago Florence Crittenton changed my life forever. I was 16 years old and pregnant with my second child when I came there. I had a low self esteem, I did not care about anything anyone had to say at the time. It was there that I was taught to love my self and then my baby. The staff were awesome even down to the doctors. I had a lot of complications with my first baby, but being in the environment of this home I had no complication because I was stress free. I can go on and on about how great this home is for pregnant women who are trying to get their lives together.
I just want to tell y’all that Florence Crittenton saved my life and from the bottom of my heart,
…tears are rolling…
appreciate every little thing they have done for me.

If you like the stories we have been sharing, please consider giving a gift to support these girls and women and their families.

Giving

H, 16: For Anyone who is Scared

Client writing a letter of advice to new clients:

Hello!!! I am currently 37 weeks pregnant. Tomorrow I will be 38 weeks pregnant. This is my first baby and don’t plan on anymore until the future. Anyways I am 16 years old and I’m still in school living my life just as well as anybody else. But here is something that I and you might have in common that might surprise you is that I also stay here at Florence Crittenton.

Being only 16 and also scared of what it was that I was facing, coming to Florence Crittenton I was kind of nervous at first. Soon I come to realize that this was where I needed and wanted to be.

This program put so much comfort and dignity in me. When I thought that the world was only looking down on me I came here and realized that I’m not a bad person and no matter what there is still hope and I’m very confident that I can make it being a single mom as long as I can keep my priorities set straight. With the help of staff always being here to talk to me when I’m worried or having troubles, I never worry myself about being lonely and not knowing what to do because there always here when you need them.

I don’t feel like I’m the only one anymore because there are some girls here that are in the same situation as me. This place has truly changed me and I don’t know where it is that I would be without Florence Crittenton. Coming here you’ll learn a lot of new things about becoming a parent. There are so many programs that come here to help us with the start at a foundation of becoming a mother. I’m s sure that you will love this place!!! Well, thanks for taking the time to read my story. Never give up because your life if not over. You have a precious gift that God gave you growing in you and please don’t for get that.

If you like the stories we have been sharing, please consider giving a gift to support these girls and women and their families.

Giving

Story #15

Story #15

How did I begin my involvement in Florence Crittenton?

I was eating breakfast early one weekday morning at Anderson’s Restaurant near uptown Charlotte. A person I only slightly knew came over to my table and identified himself as a FCS Board member and simply said, “I’ve been asked to invite you to become a member of our Board. I’m sure he was a little surprised at how quickly I said, “I will be happy to join”. I asked if he was surprised at the quick response and told him perhaps the key reason. My younger brother and his wife, thinking they could have no children, applied for adoption, were approved and soon received a baby girl. She came through The Children’s Home in Greensboro. I had a very strong feeling that perhaps also through Florence Crittenton. The later didn’t matter, but seeing how much joy she had brought into the lives of my brother and his wife, I knew I wanted to try to “give something back”. That request by the Board member was almost 25 years ago and I’m still involved in this incredible organization as a member of the Advisory Board.

F, 26: “Dare”

Today’s story was an email received from an FCS supporter. I love how this story demonstrates the many facets of Florence Crittenton’s impact.

Hello, Friends,

I just checked a book out of the Char-Meck library that my friends had been raving about: Proof of Heaven: A Neurosurgeon’s Journey into the Afterlife by Eben Alexander, MD. Eben, a neurosurgeon, was born in December of 1953 at the Florence Crittenton Home in Charlotte, next to Charlotte Memorial Hospital!

His mother was 16, the youngest resident, and took the “code name” of Virginia Dare. She was called “Dare” by the residents, and desperately wanted to keep her son. Residents at that time were at the Home three months before and two weeks after the birth of their babies. She and the father eventually did marry and had more children.

Eben spent his first Christmas plus eleven days in the hospital, and then went to a “baby dorm.” He was adopted by a wonderful couple, which was meaningful to me since our first child, now deceased, was also adopted.

The birth father was a naval aviator, NASA Apollo trainee, an airline pilot for Piedmont and Delta, and an attorney! Eben did reunite with his birth family.

You can read a sample at the link below. I haven’t gotten very far into the book as of now, but I am really enjoying it!

http://www.amazon.com/Proof-Heaven-Neurosurgeons-Journey-Afterlife/dp/1451695195/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1358865705&sr=1-1&keywords=eben+alexander

Blessings,
FCS Supporter

If you like this story, please consider giving a gift to support these girls and women and their families.
https://crittentonofnc.org/giving-opportunities/

Catherina Kamara, 17: Last Guardians

Hi, my name is Catherine Kamara and my son Isaiah and I came to Florence Crittenton Services February 2007. I was 17yrs old & my son was 4wks old. Finding out that my step-mother no longer wanted to care for me & was willing to give my son and I up for custody was devastating. At the age of eleven I lost my mother & less then a year later I lost my father & honestly the only person I had as a guardian was my step-mother who promised my biological parents that she’ll care for my siblings & I & be there for us no matter what. But January 18,2007 when my newborn was only 5 days old she made that very clear that everything she told my parents was nothing but lies. The day DSS was called to my house by my school social workers was the same day both my son & I was placed in the foster care system. That second when I heard my foster care social worker’s supervisor on the phone said “Alright we have no other choice but to place them both in foster care” I literally thought my life was over & I automatically thought my son will be lost in the system forever because I was turning 18 & aging out of the system. I was devastated, scared, nervous, & felt like there was absolutely no hope that I’ll ever accomplish anything to prove to my child that I want a better future for him. That night the Alamance County DSS removed us out of my house I made my social worker promise me that she’ll never separate my son & I. I’m proud to say that she held up to her promise & fought hard to find a place that will accept both my son & I, & that’s when the Alamance County DSS found FCS which has a program call Sarah’s House (a Mother & Child program).. Upon my arrival to FCS I promised myself that I will not allow anything to block me from my goals. I had to let go of a lot of negative things in my life in order for me to stay focus on a brighter future for the little child I brought into this world. Many days & nights I cried my eyes out & wanted to give up but the staff members at FCS who looked at me as their own child reminded me daily of how bright of a future I have ahead of me. My son’s first home was FCS, his first brothers/sisters were the many kids in Sarah’s House, he has so many Aunties & Grandmas at FCS that till this day he still remembers them by name & they’ll do anything for him. My plan was to never get close as I did with majority of the residents at FCS, some of them are as close to me as blood sisters & I love them dearly. I was so scared of the foster care system because of what I heard growing up as a child, but the county I had when I was in foster care showed me a completely different outcome of the system & FCS just put the cherry on top of the stress free life that they offered me & my child. There was no stressing in when I’ll be able to eat again, or who will pay this month’s bills, all I worried about was learning how to be a wonderful mother to my child & finishing my education. FCS was the biggest stepping stone God has ever blessed me with & because of them I was able to complete my GED & start college courses majoring in Criminal Justice, & when I left FCS I left there with $15000 to start a new healthy life with my son, I am one semester away from starting police academy & hopefully later in life I’ll be a Homicide Detective. After I left FCS I was asked by The National Crittenton Foundation to go to Florida to tell my story along with the many other woman/girls who are or were at FCS, & that was a huge success because I met girls who walked in the same pathway that I walked on or even worse. After the first conference with The National Crittenton Foundation myself along with a few other women were chosen to be advocates to tell our journey when we once lived at FCS. I was blessed enough to share my story with many Congress Men & Women, the beautiful Gabrielle Union, & did a television segment with my lovely Crittenton Ladies who I have falling in love with & have gotten closer then ever with. The Ladies of The National Crittenton Foundation is working on a project now call B.O.L.D which means Bringing Opportunity Love & Determination.. So please be on a close lookout for a BOLD coming to a city near you. 🙂

The opportunities FCS granted my son & I are unbelievable & words alone can not express how grateful I am for them & most of all for Charles Crittenton who had a big heart to make a change for troubling girls like myself.

If you like this story, please consider giving a gift to support these girls and women and their families.
https://crittentonofnc.org/giving-opportunities/

Story #9

Story #9

Florence Crittenton Services has been a part of my life for nearly 30 years. It was love at first sight! It would take many, many words to describe this long lasting relationship. My first memory is that Womens’ Council of Homebuilders hosted off-site picnics for the residents with an abundance of donated food and gifts for residents and their babies-to-be. Subsequently, I became a member of the Crittenton Auxilliary (still a member), chaired the Auxillary, served on and chaired the Board of Directors and presently serve on the Board of Advisers.

I fondly recall organizing and participating in numerous plant sales, bake sales, auctions, yard sales, etc. to raise money for the Auxilliary’s Scholarship Fund. I’m so grateful we have been able to assist many past and present residents further their education and seek a career path that enables them (and their children) to be productive citizens.

In October 2010, my husband and I relocated to the coast of North Carolina. Although I am physically removed from the actual location of Crittenton, its staff and residents remain very much a part of my heart and my life. It is definitely not a case of out of sight, out of mind. .What a joy it is to see healthy babies born to young women who make positive life changes as a result of counseling, expertise and love poured out during their brief stint at Crittenton. I am truly blessed to be a part of this dedicated and hard working organization.

If you like the stories we have been sharing, please consider giving a gift to support these girls and women and their families.
https://crittentonofnc.org/giving-opportunities/