St. Matthew's House Transitional Housing Resident to Graduate
Naples, FL (May 21, 2007) - SMH Wolfe Apartments resident Bonnie Turner will be handed a Certificate of Competency as a Licensed Practical Nurse at the Lorenzo Walker Institute of Technology on May 29th. This comes to Ms. Turner, now 52 after years of struggling with many personal issues and being homeless.
Originally from Pennsylvania (PA), Ms. Turner first came to Florida (FL) when she was 15. "I was the youngest of 20 children of older parents and I raised myself while I took care of them." She loved school and did a report on Florida and knew she wanted to live there one day. Being young and on her own, she "made a lot of wrong choices." By 18 she was married to an abusive husband. She left her husband and returned to PA. She had a son and became a single parent. At this time she ran into problems with alcohol and drugs.
All the while she wanted to pursue her education. When he was 13, her son went to live with his father. She enrolled in a nursing program, but the stress of going to school, working and forever trying to find a place to live took its toll. She ended up needing mental health treatment and in doing so found her way to 12 step programs and other coping mechanisms. She returned to FL in 1996 and has been clean and sober for 16 years.
Finally, after friends helped her to develop a life plan and a budget, Ms. Turner applied to the Wolfe Apartments. The facility is transitional housing in a controlled environment where substance abuse is not tolerated. A counselor there told her about the Lorenzo Walker program. "I wouldn't have been able to take the opportunity to be what I wanted to be, if I didn't have the support system to help me to do what I needed to do," says Ms. Turner. She adds simply, "I am very grateful."
St. Matthew's House provides housing for men, women and women with children. Its soup kitchen serves more than 120,000 meals a year to the hungry and it also provides food packets from its pantry and other support to poor, needy people. In an environment that is both compassionate and disciplined, its recovery program helps those who are less fortunate to rebuild their lives and return as productive members of society. For more information go to www.stmatthewshouse.org.
