Today Angela works at a local soup kitchen in the child-care center and she also volunteers in our kitchen preparing meals 3 days a week.  As she hands out the meals to where she once sat, it is easy to understand her dedication to give back to the very community that accepted her when the rest of the world seemed to turn their backs.

To understand where she is today, we must take you back to her childhood, where she was raised with seven siblings by a Mom who was addicted to drugs.  Angela will tell you that her mother did the best she could, although her mother was the first person to introduce her to drugs.  By the time Angela was a teenager, she was a frequent drug user.  Soon Angela, too, became addicted to drugs.  Unfortunately, Angela does not remember much of her teenage years.

In her early adult years, she met a man who later became the father of her two children.  He was violent towards her.  She was the victim of his rage and she knew that one day he would kill her.  She stayed because she thought that there was no where else to turn.

On a day like any other, Angela left the children home with their father.  He asked his girlfriend to come over and take care of the children.  The girlfriend filled the bathtub with scalding water and held Angela's  2-year daughter under the water until she drowned.

Angela took her surviving daughter and fled.  She immediately went into recovery because she knew that she had to change her life to make a better life for her daughter.  She entered a 28-day outpatient program to detox.  During her time in detox, Angela came to Oasis every day for a hot meal, however what she found was camaraderie, friendship and HOPE.

Today Angela has been drug-free for 3 years.  She spends her free time with her daughter and passing on the hope to other women sitting at the lunch tables at Oasis.

Jessica* has grown up within the Oasis Family.  Her grandmother introduced her to us by bringing her to our community lunch program when Jessica was in the 2nd grade!  Now, 17 years old, Jessica is a tutor for the after school program and a counselor for the Oasis Summer Camp Program.  Thanks to her experience with Oasis, she now has a hope for her future.

Growing up, she became painfully aware of the harsh realities of being poor in Paterson.  Her parents, whom she loves very much, are the working poor.  Her mother worked full-time and her father worked up to 3 jobs at a time.  And she remembers many nights when there was not enough money for dinner.

Through the many years of attending Oasis' After-School and Summer Camp programming, Jessica understands that to succeed she needs to stay off the streets and stay focused on being a productive teenager. 

*Not her real name