Sabrina Brown has a small loveseat and a queen-sized bed to her name.

The 54-year-old recently moved to Springfield and encountered a slew of unfortunate events which left her and her 13-year-old granddaughter struggling to make ends meet.

To make matters worse, her car broke down, and she had to get it fixed in order to get to work, which caused her to fall behind on her rent payments.

As Thanksgiving was approaching this year, the only thing on her mind was how she was going to afford to keep a roof over their heads.
Desperate for help, Sabrina called Springfield Catholic Charities’ Crisis Assistance Office – and that’s when she says the blessings started pouring in.

The Crisis Assistance program provides basic necessities including food, clothing, vouchers for household goods, and utility and rent assistance for people in need.

“They gave me $300 for rent. Tears just flowed in my eyes. That was the first blessing. I had no idea how I was going to get rent together,” she said.

It didn’t stop there though. Sabrina said the second blessing came when she got a call that Catholic Charities would provide her with groceries.
“I got there, and there were all these bags lined up, and I thought maybe one or two of them were mine. They told me every last one of them was mine. There had to be ten bags. I tried to hold it in but tears just started flowing again from my eyes. We have enough food to last us the entire month. It was something I wasn’t expecting.”

Sabrina said a weight was lifted off her shoulders when she and her granddaughter were provided with help.

“It was like God was right there. Catholic Charities was like an extended family to me. They have blessed me tremendously, over and over. I could not believe it.”

“I just want to thank Catholic Charities. They never questioned—‘are you Catholic’—they didn’t make me feel bad or belittle me at all for needing help and I really, really appreciated that.”