Walk a Mile in My Shoes -- Hearing the stories

Note: Lynn Dzialo is a current resident of HOME’s transitional housing program. She has been telling her story to those in the church community. She is slated to graduate in late December and is looking forward to having her own place. She is a childcare worker and has two wonderful children. This is her story.

In order to understand Helping Others Make the Effort and the women who live there, you need to hear our stories. Each one of us is different, but one main theme runs through our lives: we are single mothers, looking to make our children lives better than our own. This is my story of how HOME is helping me do just that.

My name is Lynn Dzialo. I grew up in the little town of Kensington, Conn. I remember when I was growing up that I was a happy person and that I laughed all the time —I still laugh all the time. My friends and co-workers will tell you that I’m always laughing about something, but there were times in my life I wasn’t laughing — I was crying.

I graduated Berlin High School in 1985 and went to Manchester Community College. I graduated in 1989 with an Associates degree in Early Childhood Education and I went on to Connecticut State University where I took some classes, but never finished.

There are times in your life when you hit road blocks, but we get through them somehow with God’s help. My road blocks were my parents fighting and my husband. My parents fought all the time. It was a vicious cycle that I took with me into my marriage in 1992.

My husband and I lived with my parents a few times during our marriage. In 1995, my whole family decided that we should all move to Florida. My husband was not crazy about going, but we went. Soon after moving to Florida we moved out of my parents’ home and bought our house in December of 1995. It was nice having my own home but it wasn’t good for my marriage. The financial responsibility led to even more fighting and money problems. We fought even more after our kids, Stephania and Andrzejon, were born.

In January 2005, I left my husband and I moved back in with my mom, but the fighting continued. I knew I had to stop the cycle!

Last November my church had just heard about a single woman’s program and thought it was good for the kids and me. It was called Helping Others Make the Effort or HOME. I prayed every night to become a resident at HOME. I got the answer that I prayed for in January. My kids and I were going to our own place at HOME.

The most important thing for me is that we could be a family, in our own safe home. I have seen so many changes in my children since we moved to HOME. Stephania is my social butterfly. My son, Andy, has ADHD, Anxiety and was just diagnosed with Tourette syndrome. Since we moved to HOME I believe that Andy’s anxiety has lessened. I believe that Andy is so much happier at HOME.

Helping Others Make the Effort is helping my family to become financially stable.
We take classes every week on finances, parenting, and we also learn how to save and budget money. All of this will help us when we are back on our own. I look to my future for my kids and I when I graduate from HOME — and I will graduate!

My kids and I will succeed thanks to Helping Others Make the Effort and the stories that we all have on the journey to self-sufficiency. Sphere: Related Content