Help Tess Secure Safe Housing for Her Baby

My name is Lisa Pizzo,

I am starting this GoFundMe for a young 20-year-old mother who is new in recovery and currently in treatment for the last 7 months. I am going to keep her full name anonymous due to her still currently being in treatment her first name is Tess. She is adopted and originally from Kansas. She is now in Florida and plans to attempt to build a new life for her and her new baby girl. Tess has no family support and only has the support from staff at the center she is currently residing. Since they are staff, and she is a client they are not able to assist her at all personally due to HIPPA. Unfortunately, Tess will be 8 months pregnant in two weeks and the program she is at currently cannot keep her after she is 8 months along in her pregnancy because they do not have the licensing to house a mother and her newborn so she would need to successfully complete by then and move into some form of a maternal home or halfway house for mom's and their babies. Tess and her case manager called every resource they could find and only two places had a bed available for a pregnant mother and only one of those places actually called to give her an interview for the housing.

Today Tess went with her case manager to a program named "His Caring Place" in Fort Lauderdale, Florida that is an organization that assists in housing mothers who are homeless or are going to be facing homelessness where they can stay with their child for up to 2 years. This program will not only assist her with housing, but she will also have her own private room with a crib/bassinet for her baby girl, therapy and case manager. They will also help getting her all kinds of assistance such as food stamps, Medicaid for her and the baby, daycare vouchers etc. She will be in the program with 5 other women with their babies. The interview for this program went well the only obstacle Tess faces is that they have a $300 deposit for the month and then it will be $300 monthly from there on until she transitions into her own place outside of the program. I am asking if we could raise at the least the $300 for her first month and deposit. But if we could raise $600 for the first 2 months and allow her to enjoy the end of her pregnancy and get back on her feet that would truly be a gift from God. Tess was having trouble finding employment due to her being pregnant and looking pregnant she finally was hired at a local Walmart but does not have a start date until 12/2/2024. Tess will be grateful for anything she gets because her entire pregnancy has been very stressful for her because she has feared having to leave the program she is at and possibly having nowhere to go with her baby. The staff at her current center have worked effortlessly to make sure she has a place to lay her head with her new baby.

All donations will directly go to her first two months of rent and any extra I will put towards her housing, so she has as much time to save as she needs.

If you can't donate, please share her story. Thank you for taking the time to read this!

I attached a story about the program "His Caring Place" to give a better understanding of this program changing lives and how much of an amazing opportunity it is.