Homeless and pregnant: Bloomington woman works toward stability for now 1-year-old
On Christmas last year, there was a room at the inn for a very pregnant Mandy New.
A Bloomington donation-run program called Hotels for Homeless (H4H) paid for New and other people experiencing homelessness to stay in a motel room that bitter night.
After the gift of hot showers, a door that locks, full-size beds and television, everyone checked out before noon the next day. Volunteers gave them rides back to Wheeler Mission, the Shalom Center or a homeless encampment, wherever they spend their days.
New got a ride, not to her tent in the woods near JB Salvage, but to IU Health Bloomington Hospital, where later that day she would deliver a daughter she named Twyla.
New's life transformed then and there. But without the basic necessities, their future was uncertain.
Two days later, the infant was taken from her arms as New left the hospital. The state Department of Child Services intervened, putting the baby into foster care while New got her life together and proved she could provide a safe home for her child.
Katie Norris, the founder and energy behind Hotels for Homeless, stepped in to help. So did Rebecca Figg, the volunteer who drove New to the hospital a year ago and has stayed by her side since as an advocate and friend.
New had no option but to hand her newborn daughter over to strangers. The only home she could provide when they left the hospital that day was a cheap motel room or a tent in the woods near a scrapyard.
"Because I was unhoused and had no stable housing plan, DCS took her into foster care," New said. "DCS didn't consider the hotel stable housing and in the state of Indiana, you can't be living in a tent or a car and have a child."
She and Twyla's father returned to the motel and were able to stay there for month, then another, with financial help from Hotels for Homeless. An online fundraiser collected another $2,100 to pay for the room at Best Value Inn. The owners offered a discount. "It was really hard to convince DCS that this, for us, was stable housing," New said.
For three months, she tried to find a more permanent and affordable solution. Without a back-up plan in case the motel housing ended, New couldn't get custody of her baby. Three-hour visits several days a week weren't enough.
When New finally secured a spot on the waiting list at New Hope's shelter for families, DCS allowed the baby to live at the motel with her parents.
They've since moved into a New Hope apartment, and Twyla attends the on-site Nest daycare and preschool. She's already walking, and turns 1 year old today.
Her parents have a Section 8 voucher and are looking for a place to live. Someone gave New a 1986 Chevy Silverado pickup that's missing part of the muffler system and gets terrible gas mileage, but it transports her to and from work safely.
New is grateful for this chance for a life away from the drugs, dangers and uncertainties that accompany living on the streets and sleeping in a tent hidden from public scrutiny.
It's behind her, but not so far that she's forgotten. Reminders of the desperation of homelessness sometimes appear at the front desk when she's at work.
"There was a lady a couple of weeks ago that came in and said, 'How much is one night? I maybe have enough for one night.' She and her kids got kicked out of the hotel where they were staying after a disagreement. I said I could work with her, just take a deposit, and I gave her Katie's phone number. Hotels for Homeless is helping, and the mom can pay for some nights. Katie still has them at the hotel today."
New is volunteering today to drive people from the motel back to wherever they stay. "This year," she said, "I'll be on the other side of things."
How the Christmas program began ...
Support that first year was overwhelming, and has continued. The first year, more than 100 people were given a hotel room for a night at Christmas. In 2022, it was 150.
Guests are welcomed with kindness, compassion and respect, Norris said, and given a treat-filled stocking. The family of Cameron Ricketts, a Hotels for Homeless volunteer who died this fall, provides a home-cooked Christmas dinner and a wrapped gift under a Christmas tree in every motel room. Hot coffee and breakfast is served before peopls check out the next morning. Lifeway Baptist Church provides a shuttle for guests.
"We appreciate all the support offered by the community to make this Christmas Miracle come true," Norris said.
Monetary donations can be sent via PayPal and Venmo @h4hbtown. Cash and checks made out to Hotels For Homeless can be dropped off at the front desk at the Best Value Inn, or mailed to the non-profit's office at 1840 S. Walnut St. Suite 105, Bloomington, IN 47401. Winter weather items like blankets, coats, hats, gloves and handwarmers can also be dropped off at the motel.
Contact H-T reporter Laura Lane at llane@heraldt.com or 812-318-5967.
This article originally appeared on The Herald-Times: Once-homeless woman who gave birth at Christmas turned life around
