18 year-old Rainie showed up on our doorstep with a trash bag full of belongings, a four-year-old son, and an 11-month-old daughter.  Rainie had lived with her mother until she was 13, when she dropped out of school and became homeless. 

One night when Rainie’s mother went out to the local package store, her mother’s boyfriend tried to rape Rainie.  Fortunately, Rainie’s mother walked in and interrupted them before the situation escalated. 
Unfortunately for Rainie, her mother believed the boyfriend, who said that Rainie was asking for it—and she threw Rainie out on the street.

Rainie soon found a 23-year-old man, who was willing to take her in.  Six months later, just after Rainie found out she was pregnant, he told her that he had found a new girlfriend, and threw her out.
For the next three years, Rainie “couch-surfed” from apartment to apartment, and eventually moved into an abandoned car.  This winter, when it became too cold, she came to New Moms.

For Rainie, who has been on her own for so long, it was not easy to learn to live within the Cooperative Living Program guidelines.  However, she is determined to make it work, for the sake of her children.  With the help of New Moms’ staff, Rainie now has public assistance, and has enrolled her children in preschool and daycare.  She attends an alternative high school, and works part time at McDonald’s.  One day, she hopes to get a job designing video games.