With Thanksgiving just a few weeks away, recipes are being gathered, dish assignments are being handed to family members, and table decorations are being designed and put into motion. Holidays are a memorable time of year. Getting together with friends and family, sitting around your table sharing stories from years past, and of course enjoying incredible food. But what does Thanksgiving look like when you don’t have a home? What happens to the homeless people on the days when the majority of people are sitting around watching a football game complaining of full bellies? What happens when you don’t have a home, a table, or a television?
Agape House permanently changed Thanksgiving for one Prescott family. Last year, just in time for 
Thanksgiving, Agape House made it possible for a family in Prescott to have a home. A home where all of the family was able to celebrate Thanksgiving together for the first time in years, around their OWN kitchen table, with their own turkey!
In the Prescott area, there are a few shelters and transitional housing options for homeless women and men. However, there are no shelter options for families that allow both women and men to stay together. Most programs are for either single men or mothers with children, but if you have a son, the boy has to be under 13 years old in order to stay in the shelter. Sadly, in Yavapai County, 1 in 30 children are homeless.
This particular family that Agape House was blessed to help, was a single mother with a teenage boy, teenage girl, and a young child. The family was in a crisis situation trying to survive without a home. In order for the family to have a place to sleep, they had to be separated. Even though the son was too old to live in a woman’s shelter, over the age of 13, he was way too young to live on his own. The son was being shuffled from home to home, couch to couch, living away from his mother and sisters.
Praise to God, Agape House was able to change that. With mentoring, counseling, financial training, and prayer, Agape House was able to find housing for this family. This year, when Thanksgiving arrives, this family who has now been successfully thriving for a year, will be able to invite people to their home. Together as a family, they will sit around the table and be thankful that someone cared enough to step out and help. They will be able to recline after dinner and play board games late in to the night. A family united, what a blessing, Praise be to God.
