THE LITTLE FAMILY

From the outside, Richard and Antonia Little and their three children seem to be your everyday family. However, behind closed doors, the family of six struggled as Richard and Antonia battled substance abuse.

The road ahead grew rockier for the Littles after Richard lost his job during the COVID-19 Pandemic, and they found themselves evicted and forced to move into a motel. The Littles were desperate to turn their lives around. During a Department of Family and Children's Services (DFCS) investigation, the Littles recognized the confronting reality that they needed to make decisions and changes that would positively alter the trajectory of their lives.

That is when the Little family discovered the benefits of The Salvation Army Pathway of Hope program at the Rome Corps in Rome, Georgia. After meeting with a caseworker and learning more about The Salvation Army’s Pathway of Hope program, Richard and Antonia decided this was the direction they wanted to go –this was the path they wanted to pursue. The Littles soon moved into a three-bedroom; one-bathroom house provided by The Salvation Army of Rome. There, Richard and Antonia paid a nominal rent that allowed them to put some of the money they saved into a savings account for the family.

Since entering the Pathway of Hope program, the Little family has begun to turn a new leaf: they’ve paid off their past eviction balance, Antonia started college, they have established family goals and a family calendar, and they are staying current with their monthly bills.

“We are not having to ask anybody for money like before," says Richard. "Before we got into this program, we were asking people for $20 or $30 every day just to be able to make it through. The Pathway of Hope program has helped us learn how to control our money, so we don’t go waste our money on stuff that we really don't need.”

In addition to learning how to manage finances, the Pathway of Hope program also gave the Little family the ability to think about finding permanent housing for their family.

“Thanks to this program, we are not always stressed about everything,” says Antonia. “I want to go to college to become an addiction specialist and to work in women's outreach.”

Despite concluding the Pathway of Hope program, the Little family still meets with The Salvation Army twice a month for continued pastoral care. And while Antonia starts her collegiate journey, Richard has found a full-time job that supports the family.