MOTHER FINDS SAFE HAVEN AT OUR MOTHERS HOUSE

Meet Lisa Thomas and her daughter, Lupita. Her advice to single mothers on the verge of homelessness is: "People will support you. Just reach out." Her story:

She married Lupita's father, a contractor with a thriving pool enclosure business. "Everything was great."

That is, until the construction and real estate industries collapsed and Thomas learned that she was pregnant. "I took maternity leave; then the market dried up and I had no job to go back to."

Her husband dealt with the stress by turning to alcohol and drugs. Thomas said that she "tried to get him to go to AA, to get help, because I knew that, if I left, Lupita and I would be homeless."

The final straw was when her electricity was disconnected because her husband used the money for alcohol.

She moved into Our Mother's House, a Catholic Charities organization, in June 2007.

She works at McDonalds for $7 an hour and is looking for a second job. "I can do clerical work, administrative work, sales. I am bilingual. I have an excellent résumé and references."

Thomas is also a full-time student at Manatee Community College. She dreams of earning her master's degree and becoming a social worker. "I want to make a difference."

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