Breaking the Cycles

When I walked into the Pleasant Hill Presbyterian Church to attend the Rainbow Village graduation ceremony, I spotted a banner some ten feet long stretched along a wall. Walking over to it, I read hand-penned messages of love and good luck wishes written to the five women who would be honored that night. Encircling the entire banner were the outlined hands of the other residents and staff of Rainbow Village, each signed by its owner.

Moving toward the sanctuary, I passed family members hugging and congratulating each other. They were waiting their turn to be photographed in the lobby before taking seats to watch the ceremony. Topiaries and an arbor decorated in shades of pink and cream marked where the graduates would be presented.

The Reverend Nancy Yancey, CEO, opened the ceremony and told us Rainbow Village was “a place of transformation where God’s love, mercy and grace abound.” Lynnette Ward, Adult Program Director, followed and told us of her own tenure as a resident of Rainbow Village before taking her first position with the organization. Recalling the woman who served as her mentor before her own graduation, Lynnette had asked her, “What can I do to repay you for your kindness?”

“You can do for another,” the mentor had answered back then. Lynnette turned to the anxious graduates. “And that’s what I urge you ladies to do,” she said, “to do for others. Because what we go through is not for us, but for someone else.”

Each graduate in her turn stood before the crowd and told her story. Stories of domestic violence, eventual homelessness and poverty, moving children from hotel to hotel, fighting back hunger and the temptation to return to an abusive spouse just to have a roof overhead. Stories that all wove their way to a confession of helplessness and hopelessness, until they found Rainbow Village. And while at Rainbow Village, they found hope, self-respect, new skills, and most importantly, the power of God. One graduate ended her story telling us that while at Rainbow Village she finally learned to “love who God has made me to be.”

A young man, probably a high school senior, was given a chance to speak. He told of a time when he lived in his mother’s car or dingy hotels. In the sixth grade at the time he and his mother moved into Rainbow Village, he said he had never finished a school term in the same school where he had begun that year. Being homeless meant constantly moving from temporary shelter to temporary shelter. It also meant having no permanent friends.

He paused for a moment and looked to his mother who was sitting in the audience. “I came to Rainbow Village when I was twelve years old,” he said. “And for the first time in my life I attended the same school all year long. I made friends, I had stability. And I watched my mother change, and I became so proud of her.”

When he finished he took a seat behind his mom, Sondra Blue, a graduate of Rainbow Village and now its Children and Youth Program Director. She looked over her shoulder at her son, smiled broadly, and then reached to gently cup his face in her hand.

I looked down at my program to hide my tears, and my eyes came to rest on a phrase describing Rainbow Village’s mission: Breaking the Cycles of Homelessness, Poverty and Domestic Violence.

After what I saw that evening, I had no doubt that Rainbow Village is excelling at doing God’s work.

About Rainbow Village:

Each family that comes to Rainbow Village enters into a covenant based on accountability, initiative, and the achievement of mutually agreed upon goals.

Opportunities are offered for each family to become self-sufficient. By becoming a part of a supportive community families not only stay together but find hope and promise for the future. By forming new habits and lifestyles, acquiring better job skills, and learning to live as healthy members of our community, all are served.

Once admitted, families reside in completely furnished homes. Families can remain in the home for a period of up to two years as long as they are in compliance with the program agreement outlining the self-sufficiency plan. To ensure financial accountability, each family follows a monthly budget which includes a debt repayment and savings plan. They also must meet with a Rainbow Village case manager who assists each family in setting and achieving realistic goals.

For more information about the program and to learn of volunteer opportunities, visit the website at www.rainbowvillage.org/