Sophie's Smile

This sweet lady is Sophia Ramirez. She became my friend a couple years ago after joining my church congregation. Sophie, as she is known by, has a tragic story of any and all abuse (mental, sexual, and physical). Sophie has been homeless for most of her adult life. She dropped out of school after 6th grade to take care of her younger siblings as her mother was a non-functioning alcoholic. At 15 she ran away because of all the mental abuse from her mother. She survived on the good graces of boyfriends who took advantage of her in every way and were generous enough to supply her with drugs and babies. So, addicted and needing to take care of her 6 kids, she was completely beholden to men to take care of her. She had no education, no job skills and multiple children to take care of (including a set of disabled daughters). Sophie became a stereo-typical woman of abuse. She had no self worth and no way out.

In 1992 Sophie went to prison for selling drugs. There she received the only dental care she had ever had. They gave her a bridge of beautiful upper teeth. When she returned to her abusive boyfriend, they had an argument where he told her that no one would ever look at her so she didn’t need to try to look better and promptly punched her in the face destroying her bridge and knocking out what teeth she did have, almost killing her.

Sophie’s children grew up and left home, her twin daughters died from complications of their disabilities within a year of each other, and she was totally estranged from any family members. She was alone, had nothing of value, and was homeless in the darkest streets of Houston doing anything she could to survive. Sophie was very resourceful, however. She lived in a storage unit for 9 months. At one point she stayed in a half-built house in a construction zone drawing power from an extension cord from a kindly family living nearby. She was so mad at God and blamed him for causing her so much unhappiness.

Finally, Sophie’s daughter and son-in-law took her in. As they were not much better off than she was, they brought her north to visit a “friend” and abandoned her there. This is when God worked a miracle in her life. Not knowing what to do, a stranger led her to a woman who had broken her hip. Sophie was given a room in exchange for helping her. This is where Sophie a kind man providing service to her roommate. He spoke of God and His Grace.

Sophie learned she was a child of God who was loved and valued. And in the last 2 years, Sophie has completely transformed her life. She is so happy. Her bubbly personality is infectious. She has stopped using any drugs and has even given up cigarettes. She has light in her and for the first time feels hope and is learning life skills to help her progress. She accepted Jesus into her heart and now has a church family that loves her and is helping her to get on her feet.

That brings us to today. Sophie wants so badly to be self-sufficient but feels held back because of her looks. She has very little self-confidence because of her teeth. She smiles all the time, but holds her hand over her mouth because she is so embarrassed.

Wouldn’t it be great if we could give Sophie a new smile for her birthday?! She turns 62 on March 8th. Her visit to the denture specialist quoted a discounted cost of $6000 to get her a full set of dentures, which you can imagine sounds like a million dollars to her. But I told Sophie, there are very kind, generous people in the world that would help.

We are trying to raise at least that amount and if by the grace of God we receive more, it will go to helping her with rent and utilities until she is able to get a job or receive disability assistance. If you feel so inclined to help, it would be such a blessing to this amazing woman who deserves all the love the world has to offer. If you can’t help financially, please consider sharing this link with anyone you think would be interested. Thank you so much and may you be blessed for your generous heart.

-Krista Broomhead