1 500 4 https://www.virginiaroom.org/digital/files/original/58/5535/ErvinAmanda.MP3 17bf4f5d5c0b73cef9b6f28a2098e167 https://www.virginiaroom.org/digital/files/original/58/5535/ErvinAmanda.1.pdf c25f6826c470ac1811939506aacb8f59 PDF Text Text Salvation Army Pathway of Hope Oral History Project Interview with Amanda Ervin October 2, 2019 Interviewer: Vanessa Dotson Interviewee: Amanda Ervin Date: October 2, 2019 Location: Salvation Army, Roanoke, Virginia Transcription prepared by Kierra Burda Total: 45:22 Index: 00:00 = Introductions 00:43 = Family life growing up in Southeast Roanoke (1990s-2000s) and the subsequent death of her father 02:30 = Education and schooling, dropping out of school and obtaining her GED 04:03 = Having her three children, their upbringing, and raising them in Southeast Roanoke 09:31 = Financial situation being on welfare programs, previous unemployment, phasing off of welfare, how it has affected her life 14:40 = Obstacles she has faced, how getting her GED has helped her overcome those obstacles, and future educational and career goals 17:15 = Experience with the Salvation Army, volunteering with the Salvation Army, her experience with the Pathway of Hope Program, and how it has helped her financial situation 23:18 = Future career and life goals and potential obstacles that may interfere with those goals 26:25 = Past experiences that has shaped who she is today, her financial situation growing up, and the highs and lows of life 31:49 = The Salvation Army’s impact on her children, feeling unprepared to face poverty, how herself and others feel coming into the Pathway of Hope Program 36:31 = The Salvation Army’s impact on the community and changes in community outreach since she was a kid 38:28 = Best part of the Pathway of Hope Program and her brothers’ experiences with welfare programs 42:30 = Future goal of moving away from Roanoke and the goal of being fully sufficient   1   �00:00 VD: The following interview was conducted with Amanda Ervin on behalf of the Salvation Army Pathway of Hope Oral History Project. It took place on October 2nd at the Salvation Army of Roanoke, Virginia and the interviewer is Vanessa Dotson. The time is 5:14 [pm]. Alright, and would you please state your name, date of birth, and where you are from? 00:37 AE: Amanda Ervin. I’m from Roanoke. And [1989]. 00:43 VD: And what was it like growing up here? 00:48 AE: Kind of boring [laughter]. 00:51 VD: Was there anything interesting growing up? What time period…in the [19]90s is when you grew up here mostly? 00:58 AE: Yeah. 00:59 VD: What was it like in the 90s here? 01:01 AE: To a certain age, it was good. Because then my dad got sick with cancer and that’s when it like went really downhill. 01:14 VD: And how was life in your house growing up? 01:17 AE: When I was younger it was good. I had my mom and my dad, but then my dad died and my mom got real depressed. 01:28 VD: And how did the death of your father affect the household? 01:33 AE: Well, family stopped coming over. He was like the glue. Everyone has that one family member that keeps everyone together, I think that was my dad. And when he passed…because now I got family that live in Roanoke that my kids don’t even know. 01:54   2   �VD: And you have two brothers, right? 01:56 AE: Yes. 01:57 VD: What’s your relationship with your brothers? 01:59 AE: They now live with me since my mom died. One has autism and one’s on the spectrum. 02:12 VD: And what was your social life growing up? 02:18 AE: I had friends. I had two best friends that we’d always go and have sleepovers and stuff. 02:30 VD: And what kind of education did you receive? 02:33 AE: I didn’t graduate. I ended up getting my GED. 02:37 VD: And what was it like going through school? 02:41 AE: I liked school up until high school. And then middle school and high school I just didn’t go. 02:50 VD: What made you stop liking school? 02:53 AE: Well, my dad died when I was in 5th grade, and then in middle school, my mom either wasn’t there or she was at work. I didn’t have no one making me go, so I didn’t go. 03:08 VD: Oh okay. And did your family have any expectations for your school career? 03:15 AE: No. 03:16 VD: What were your goals for your education if you had any?   3   �03:20 AE: I didn’t have any when I was in middle school. I just didn’t want to go. 03:26 VD: And after you dropped out, what happened? 03:31 AE: My mom moved to Bedford and I stayed in Roanoke. I was like 13 [years old], and I kind of like just bounced around to friends’ houses and my grandma’s. And I didn’t ever go to school or anything like that. 03:45 VD: How old were you when you got your GED? 03:48 AE: It was after my son was born, so I was like 21, 22 [years old]. 03:55 VD: And what made you want to go back and get your GED? 03:59 AE: I wanted a better job. 04:03 VD: And how many children do you have? 04:05 AE: I have three. 04:07 VD: Three, and how old are they? 04:09 AE: Ten, four, and five. 04:12 VD: When you had each of your children, how did it change your life? 04:18 AE: My son made me grow up, made me want to do better. I didn’t want to screw around anymore and do dumb shit. I wanted to do better. 04:29: VD: How old were you when your son was born? 04:30   4   �AE: Twenty. 04:32 VD: Twenty, so that was a big experience. How old were you when your other children were born? 04:38 AE: Twenty-five and twenty-six. 04:42 VD: So they were pretty close together. And what is your relationship with the fathers of your children? 04:50 AE: My son’s dad don’t have nothing to do with him. We don’t talk to him. He might pay child support once every year, if we’re lucky. My son’s ten so he sees it, and he knows I can’t make him talk to him when he does call out of the blue. So he doesn’t really have a relationship. But my girls, their father, they have a relationship with their dad. 05:16 VD: That’s good. And is there anything you wish you could give your kids but your financial situation prevents you from doing so? 05:26 AE: I just wish I had a vehicle. Because I just got my learners permit so I just need a vehicle. My mom had a car but when she died, like, that was hers. I never had to learn how to drive, but now I wish I had a vehicle. 05:47 VD: Once you get a vehicle, do you think it will be really freeing, like you’ll be able to go places? 05:52 AE: Yeah, I won’t have to ask or have to ride the bus. 05:57 VD: How do you feel about riding the bus? What’s your experience with that? 06:00 AE: I don’t mind it, it’s easy. 06:06 VD: How do you think your kids feel about their upbringing? 06:12 AE: Well, my girls are toddlers, they’re always happy. And [my son], he’s a good kid.   5   �06:27 VD: And how are your kids doing in school? 06:30 AE: My son’s a straight-A student. My daughter is in Kindergarten, they don’t get A’s and B’s yet, but they get S’s for success, and their teachers never have bad comments. 06:46 VD: That’s good. And what’s your experience like being a single parent? 06:52 AE: I’m used to it. It was hard at first, but I’m just used to it. It’s like autopilot, like I know what to do when stuff happens, but I know at first it’s really stressful. 07:05 VD: How has the experience changed from your first child to now? 07:09 AE: My second child was hard, because I was trying to find balance. I had him by himself for five years, and then here comes another child. But I figured out how to balance that and then when my third child came, I just worked her into it. 07:33 VD: And what are your goals for your children growing up? 07:36 AE: My son’s ten, he wants to go to college. He already knows what he wants to go to college for and everything. And my daughter, she loves school, but she’s four. I just want them to do good in school and graduate and go to college. 07:59 VD: So you want them to complete high school, go to college, and have good careers, good goals? 08:02 AE: Yeah. 08:06 VD: And how has your experience been living in the Roanoke community with your kids? 08:16 AE: Good and bad. I guess that’s like everywhere. 08:21 VD: What are some good things?   6   �08:24 AE: Some of my neighbors are older, so they don’t do a lot of drama. But some of the younger ones, there’s a lot of drama. So my kids know they can only go, my son can only go to like two people’s houses. I don’t let them walk around by themselves. When I was a kid though, we used to walk to the stores by ourselves and no one cared. But I’m like, “No, I got to walk with you, or someone has to walk with you.” 08:55 VD: Yeah, that’s something that’s changed over the years. What are some of the bad sides of living here? 09:04 AE: Neighbors… I don’t know how to put it, like the neighbors are just rude. And people don’t look out for kids anymore like they used to. We used to play on the street and didn’t worry about being hit by cars. My kids can only play in the backyard. 09:31 VD: Yeah, I understand. And how have you been dealing with being on welfare programs currently? 09:43 AE: I’m slowly getting off of them. I have a job. I think if I’m able to go full time, I’ll probably be cut off completely, because right now I’m part time. I haven’t had a bad experience with it. 10:00 VD: And what was it like dealing with being unemployed before you got your job? 10:05 AE: Stressful. Really stressful. 10:10 VD: I guess it’s gotten better now since you got the part-time job? How’d you feel when you got it? 10:16 AE: I had worked there before so I kind of knew what I was walking into. I was excited. I wasn’t sure how you would go back, because you know some places you can’t get rehired, but I was excited when they told me I could become rehired. 10:35 VD: That’s good. And what welfare programs are you on currently? 10:40 AE: Just food stamps.   7   �10:41 VD: Just food stamps, okay. And do you use those a lot? 10:45 AE: Yeah. 10:47 VD: What do you think could be improved about food stamps and welfare programs in general? 10:53 AE: Not really for families, but I know my brother, who has disabilities, he couldn’t get them when they lived out on their own. People with disabilities, I know some people who can get them but they only get like $50 because their disability check is so high. But a lot of times a disability check, it goes towards rent and water bills and electric bills, and they don’t have money at the end for food. I think that part of it could be better, but I think they do good with families. 11:27 VD: So you think it could be improved for people that are single, by themselves? 11:32 AE: Yeah. 11:33 VD: What is your brothers’ experience going through all that? How do you think they feel? 11:39 AE: They don’t understand. One of my brothers could only get it for two months but no one explained that to him when he first got them. They just gave them to him, and then on that third month when he didn’t get them I was like, “Did you get a letter?” But he can’t read so it’s not like he could read the letter. 12:10 VD: That seems kind of weird that they wouldn’t explain it to them. That could definitely be fixed. You’d think they would take the time, due to his disabilities, and help him out. 12:24 AE: I wasn’t the one who helped him do his paperwork so I haven’t… But he said they said he was approved and he showed me his approval letter, but the approval letter didn’t say nothing about two months either. 12:38 VD: Yeah, that could definitely be improved. It looks like there’s some things that need to change for people with disabilities. And how has your financial situation affected your life as a single mother throughout the years?   8   �12:52 AE: It’s affected it a lot, depending on where we lived, what we could eat, what they got for birthdays and Christmas, and just what we could do as a family. 13:09 VD: What do you think was the experience when you first had your first child to now? How has it changed, for the better or for the worse? 13:22 AE: I kept a job until my last daughter was born, but I had complications after her. I had a wound vac for three months and I lost my job. 1 And then I found another job after ten months… a year. But that year of not having a job, I had my son. He was old enough to get told “look, we can’t go out to eat, we can’t do a lot of things we’ve been doing because I don’t have a job now.” And I was like “we have to cut back.” He understood, because I mean my kids are spoiled, but they’re not spoiled rotten to the point where they can’t understand if something comes up. But that year with no job, I had to get help paying bills and stuff. That was hard. 14:25 VD: What was your financial situation before you had your child? Because you said you dropped out when you were in high school and up until then, what were you doing? 14:36 AE: Illegal stuff mainly. 14:40 VD: You don’t have to talk about that if you don’t want to. 14:46 AE: Yeah. 14:47 VD: Yeah, alright. What do you think have been the biggest obstacles that you have faced so far in your life? 14:53 AE: Getting my GED. 14:56 VD: How was that? 14:58 AE: I had passed everything on math but geometry, and I had to learn that. And I dropped out at 9th grade. Algebra and all that came easy to me, but geometry? Trig? It’s on the GED test and it was the hardest thing for me.                                                                                                             1 A wound vacuum is a vacuum-assisted closure of a wound that decreases air pressure on the wound to help it heal more quickly.   9   �15:22 VD: How did you get to learn that before you took the test? 15:25 AE: There’s classes. Roanoke city offers free classes. 15:31 VD: And once you got into it, were you able to pick it up fast or did it take a little bit? 15:35 AE: It took a little bit for the math, but they make you do a pretest, so they see what you know so they’re not going over it. They’ll go over it but they’re not focused on that with you, because each student will be working on something different. Science and history, I didn’t need none of that, but trig and geometry I had to learn that. It was like a foreign language. 16:03 VD: What do you think life would be like if you hadn’t gotten your GED? 16:08 AE: Hard. 16:10 VD: How have you gotten new opportunities after you’ve gotten it, because you have that education level? 16:16 AE: Yeah, because now I go to Virginia Western [Community College] and stuff. I’ve been looking into that, but I haven’t decided anything yet. 16:27 VD: So you’d like to get an education beyond that? 16:30 AE: Yeah. 16:32 VD: Are you looking for a certain degree or are you just wanting to go? 16:35 AE: I’ve been looking at what they offer. I haven’t decided anything. I was hoping my last child would start preschool this year, but she’s on a waiting list. I was going to try to go back to school when she went back, because daycare’s really expensive. Whenever I can get her in school I was going to try to look at classes. Go to school while they’re in school. 17:00   10   �VD: How do you think your life would change after you’ve gotten another degree? 17:07 AE: I could probably further my career in something I’m already working in. 17:15 VD: How did you first hear about the Salvation Army? 17:19 AE: We moved close by here [Southeast Roanoke], and my son had asked if this was a church, and I was like, “yeah.” I knew it was a church, I didn’t know they did social work type stuff. I just knew they had an Angel Tree program, that’s all I thought they did. Because I used it one time before when he was a baby-baby. I was like “yeah, it’s a church,” so he asked if we could go to it and then we’ve been coming here ever since. 17:56 VD: So you said you went when your son was little, what was that like? You said you came for the Angel Tree when your son was little? 18:02 AE: Yeah, like his first Christmas. 18:07 VD: What was that like? 18:10 AE: It was weird, because I didn’t know what questions to ask. Now I help volunteer to help sign other people up. But like, I get their feeling when they come in, these people asking you questions about your kids. It’s weird. 18:28 VD: So now you got it on both ends, you’ve been there and now you’re helping other people. What’s your experience working and volunteering with that? 18:37 AE: I like volunteering with them. My son, I try to get him to do it, too, with little stuff. Because I try to tell him, “Look, this looks good on college applications and you want to go to college.” 18:53 VD: What is your experience with the Salvation Army ever since you’ve joined in with the social work stuff? 19:00 AE: It’s good, I like helping people. I work for the Salvation Army, for Turning Point.   11   �19:10 VD: What’s that like working there? 19:12 AE: It’s different. When I first started, I was nervous. But I like working there. 19:18 VD: What do they do there exactly? 19:21 AE: It’s a shelter for domestic violence, human trafficking, and sexual assault victims. 19:26 VD: I’m sure you do a lot of good stuff there. And what’s your experience with the Pathway of Hope Program? 19:33 AE: It was good. I’m not in it no more, but when I was in it they helped me out. They gave me a budgeting binder so that helped a lot. I was in it when my mom passed and they helped me deal with all of that because I didn’t know the first thing to do. 19:57 VD: And what was it like transitioning out of the program? 20:04 AE: They made it easy. They don’t just push you out, and I know if I ever needed anything even though I’m not in it, I can go talk to them and they will try to help me out. 20:17 VD: What’s your experience been like with J [the program manager]? How has she helped you? 20:22 AE: I haven’t had to come ask for help in a while. I know J, she would do it. [The interview is briefly interrupted as a Salvation Army staff member walks into the room and asks Amanda a question] 20:54 VD: What does the Pathway of Hope Program mean to you? How did it help you? 20:59 AE: I was kind of all right with budgeting. Like I do spend on stupid stuff. I think anyone with kids, there’s been extra money and then they don’t need it. So they gave me a binder so I could see where... I had to write down where all my money went, so I could see it and that helps out a lot. If you have a job and if she gets you to do that, you can see where all your money is and you   12   �can see where you can cut, like, “Hey, if I don’t do this I can put it in savings.” So that helped out a lot. 21:42 VD: Were there any things that you found helpful besides the budget binder? What else did they do for you? 21:55 AE: When my mom passed, she passed in Lynchburg, they’re the ones who gave me the rides up there. And they stood up there with me, for three or four days. They basically took care of her with all the stuff afterwards, and helped me. I needed rides from Lynchburg to Roanoke. I had to identify the body and they gave me a ride and everything to do that. 22:38 VD: And how long were you a part of it before you transitioned out of it? 22:42 AE: I think maybe a year and a half. 22:46 VD: And before that year and a half, how do you think you were doing? 22:51 AE: I was doing alright, like I wasn’t saving money. My bills were being paid, it was just nothing ever leftover at the end. 23:12 VD: And then now that you’re done with the program, you know how to budget and do all that stuff, are you good with the money? 23:16 AE: [inaudible assent] 23:18 VD: That’s good. And what kind of career are you interested in? 23:25 AE: I haven’t decided yet. I like what I do. I’m a house monitor, and I like that type of stuff but I want to go back [to school]. So I’ve been looking and I’m trying to decide exactly what I want to go for. 23:46 VD: And do you have any goals? Like how much do you want to be making, where would you like to be working, like that? 23:55   13   �AE: I don’t know where I would like to be working, but I know as a ballpark with how much, because I would like get a place out in the country. I don’t like the neighbors being all close, because I can literally hear everything next door. 24:13 VD: Do you think your kids would like to move out to the country to get a little more space? 24:17 AE: Yeah, my daughter thinks she can have every single animal she sees, she asks for, including elephants and giraffes. She’s going to ask her daddy for a horse for Christmas. It’s like, that’s not gonna happen [laughter]. 24:37 VD: And what general goals do you have for the future? 24:43 AE: Short-term future is going back to school. And long-term future is having a career where I can be out of the city and having a vehicle, a stable enough vehicle, to go back and forth. 25:05 VD: And where do you see your life in a year? 25:09 AE: Probably going to school, because even if my daughter doesn’t get into preschool this year because of the waiting list, she has to start Kindergarten next year. So in a year I know I’m definitely going back to school. 25:24 VD: How do you think your daughter’s going to feel when she goes to preschool? 25:30 AE: She’s going to like it at first. She wants to ride the big, she calls it the “big girl bus,” because her sister rides the bus. So she wants to ride the bus. I don’t know how she’s going to like the school part! 25:45 VD: And where do you think you’ll be in five years? 25:50 AE: I hopefully have my degree in something, and putting the degree to good use. 26:00 VD: Do you think you’ll be living somewhere else? 26:02 AE: Yes.   14   �26:06 VD: What obstacles do you think you’re going to face to reach these goals that you have for the future? 26:15 AE: If anything ever happened to my kids where I wouldn’t be able to go to school, or my brothers. 26:25 VD: And what experiences have you had that has shaped who you are as a person today? 26:36 AE: I don’t remember my mom being vocal with me. She would never, to the day she died, she wouldn’t really talk about anything serious. She would always like push it off and would never sit down and have a conversation with me about it. I’m the opposite with my kids. My son is ten but he knows he can come to me and talk to me about anything. I won’t judge you, just talk to me. So I’m the opposite of that, with my mom. I don’t ever want my kids to feel like they can’t talk to me, like I felt like that with my mom. 27:13 VD: How do you think your parenting style differs from you parents? 27:18 AE: I’m more hands on and I’m more pushing for school. I never had that. 27:31 VD: What was your financial situation like growing up? 27:36 AE: When I was really young my mom and dad worked, and we moved in with my grandma because she needed help and she had this really big house. So she worked, and my grandma was retired but she worked at Burger King. Because I remember I used to get little Burger King toys, that’s when Burger King used to have good toys [laughter]. So she worked at Burger King and my mom was a CNA [Certified Nursing Assistant] and my dad was a carpenter. So like, if I ever wanted anything I was able to get it. I don’t remember my mom being around much because she was either asleep or at work. My dad and my grandma were around. 28:26 VD: And what was it like after your dad got sick? 28:32 AE: It was hard, because he did a lot of his treatments in the house, so he had nurses come over. And when he first got sick, they would come over while we were at school but then the summer hit and I was there. I didn’t really understand it at first, but now I’m older and I still remember all that. I know what they were doing, and it got real bad to a point where he couldn’t walk up   15   �the stairs so we had to put a bed downstairs. But as a kid you don’t realize that they did that because he couldn’t walk, because they would never tell me that. 29:18 VD: And then once he passed, what was it like? 29:23 AE: My mom was always gone and my grandma, she just didn’t care what we did. I felt like everyone was always worried about my brothers because they had mental disabilities, and I always got put off on the back burner so I could do whatever I wanted to and no one would care. 29:47 VD: So they paid a lot more attention to you brothers than you? 29:50 AE: Yeah. 29:54 VD: What would you say has been the low point of your life so far? 30:00 AE: Probably when my mom died. We weren’t close for so long, and then we got really close. And she died so sudden. She was literally at my son’s birthday party, and a day after she had a major heart attack. And then five days after his birthday we had to pull the plug. There was no sign that any of that was going to happen. I talked to her that morning and then I got a phone call at three-something that evening. 30:42 VD: What would you say has been the high point thus far? 30:53 AE: Probably being stable. All I do get help with now is food stamps, like I don’t get help with anything else. And I’m still able to pay everything, and my kids have everything they need. I didn’t have to ask for help for school supplies or anything like that this year, I was able to do it for them. Just being able to do stuff for them. 31:21 VD: How did it feel before you got help and you had to kind of ask for stuff? 31:28 AE: I hate asking for help. I don’t know if people might say that’s a pride thing, but I feel like I’m their parent, like in my head I should be able to do it for them. I shouldn’t have to ask for help. So I hate it, ever having to ask for help. 31:49   16   �VD: So once you got into the program, how did you feel once you were able to start doing things on your own? 31:54 AE: It makes you feel proud about yourself when your able to do stuff like that. 32:00 VD: How do you think your kids feel about being in the program here? Being here in the Salvation Army? 32:13 AE: I know they like it, because when my daughter goes to her dad’s and she misses church she’s so mad. And I’m like, “Just tell your dad to bring you. He can come get you after, I’m not going to keep you from him.” And I think my youngest, it helped her, because she was really really shy and wouldn’t talk to no one at first. She wouldn’t even leave my side at first. But now, she’ll go off by herself and she talks to more people. Sometimes she does still get in her moods where she’s shy and she’ll just look at you. 32:54 VD: How do you think your son’s getting along with everybody here? 33:00 AE: He likes it. I know he likes it because if he didn’t he wouldn’t come. Because I’m usually at work on Sundays. He’s a Junior Soldier here. He goes to camp and everything in the summertime. 33:27 VD: That’s good, and what do you think has been your experience with the concept of intergenerational poverty. How has your financial situation when you were growing up affected your life now and your finances? 33:43 AE: Growing up, like we didn’t get food stamps or anything. We weren’t on no type of welfare. I knew my aunt and them was, because I remember the first time I’d seen it was like the paper books. I didn’t know what it was, but then they told me. And then they let me use one. I thought it was the coolest thing, I was like seven [years old]. I didn’t know what is was though. But I don’t know, I didn’t have an experience with it until I needed it. So from growing up to now, I didn’t even know it was on a card until after my son was born. 34:24 VD: So you feel like nobody really prepared you for finances and what you would do if you were in that situation? 34:28 AE: No.   17   �34:33 VD: What does it mean to you to be in poverty? 34:47 AE: Poverty is a struggle, but you have to pick yourself up and get out of it. It seems hard, but it’s doable. You just have to have patience. 35:04 VD: And now that you are through the Pathway of Hope Program, do you feel stronger than you were going in? 35:14 AE: Yes. 35:16 VD: And do you feel like it’s helped you get the basis for a good career and a good future? 35:21 AE: Yeah. 35:22 VD: Good, and how do you think others feel coming into the program? 35:28 AE: Probably nervous, because when I first came into it I really didn’t know that much about it. I really don’t think… probably they’re nervous, probably wondering what they can really help with. 35:52 VD: What would you say to people who wanted help but didn’t know how to get into the program or didn’t know if it would work for them? 36:03 AE: I mean all they have to do is call and talk to anyone that works here basically, since they all kind of know the program. Even if she’s [J’s] out or busy, they can speak to anyone up here and they’d try to help them. 36:19 VD: And would you recommend the Salvation Army and specifically the Pathway of Hope Program for people that need help like you did years ago? 36:30 AE: Yes.   18   �36:31 VD: And are there any other places that you went to for help besides the Salvation Army or have you gone solely to here? 36:42 AE: I went solely here. I don’t even know if we have any other places that offer what Pathway of Hope does. I think it’s a kind of unique program and concept with them trying to help people. 37:04 VD: Do you think that it’s done good for the people who live here that need it? 37:09 AE: Yeah. 37:11 VD: And do you think that they’re working good to build the community up and make it a better place? 37:19 AE: Yeah. Salvation Army is always out in the community. In the summertime they have the garden that’s free. You can go plant your own and there’s always other stuff down there. So they’re always out in the community. 37:38 VD: And growing up, was there anything similar to that around you? 37:44 AE: No. I know now… like I grew up where Morningside area is [in Southeast Roanoke]. I know now Carillion bought up some of that part, near Morningside Park, and now there’s a garden up there. But when I was growing up, there was nothing like that. The community gardens are now a new thing. Back in the [19]90s, no one had community gardens. 38:11 VD: So you feel like in the ‘90s, for people that would have been in similar situations to you, they probably wouldn’t have been able to get up from where they were very much. 38:22 AE: Probably not, because a lot of the stuff is new. 38:28 VD: And what do you think is the best aspect of the Pathway of Hope Program? 38:38 AE: It gives you resources and gives you a person to hold you accountable. Because you meet with her [J] every week. And if you told her you were going to go out and put in ten applications, she can hold you accountable for doing that or not doing that. And sometimes that’s   19   �all people need is someone to hold them accountable for doing what they said they were going to do. 39:09 VD: Yeah, before the program you said you kind of just spent money on random things? 39:14 AE: Yeah. 39:19 VD: And are your brothers a part of the program here or are they getting along on their own? 39:27 AE: No they’re not part of the program, they live with me. One gets disability and one we’re working on getting his disability back. Once he gets the disability back I can probably get them their own apartment, it’s just [that] one disability check isn’t going to pay for an apartment and everything else. 39:51 VD: What do you think is their experience going through similar financial situations to you? How have they faired? 40:02 AE: Their experience is probably more shitty because they had a payee before who their stuff was getting cut off because he wouldn’t pay it. They weren’t getting none of their bills sent to their house, it would be sent to the payee. And he wasn’t a legit payee, so I don’t know how he even became their payee in the first place. But I had stopped all that when my mom passed away and there was a check written out for like $500 for clothes, and they had been at my house that whole month and I was like, they don’t have clothes. They brought clothes from their house but they don’t have new clothes. So I had to put a stop to all of that. So them being not able to pay bills, I think it’s harder when you need pay, you have to depend on someone else. If you can’t find the right person, that sucks. They would have to come to my house and then I would have to, basically, I felt like I was getting the run around with Blue Ridge [Behavioral Health] and then their payee, why their bills were cut off. 41:24 VD: How do you think they experienced welfare programs and such, being disabled? 41:31 AE: I think it’s harder because they can’t read. Even a worker who’s trying to rush through it and doesn’t want to sit down and read everything, people with disabilities it’s not as good because they can’t read all the little fine stuff. 41:52 VD: And what do you think their situation will be in the future once they get their disability check?   20   �41:59 AE: Well it would be up to them if they want to move out or stay with me. Or if I move away, I already told them, “If I move, and you all want to come with us, you have to let me know that so I know how big of a place I need.” So one of my brothers always says he would come and my other brother’s a little more hesitant moving away from Roanoke, because they have never left Roanoke. 42:30 VD: So have you left Roanoke? 42:32 AE: Yes. 42:34 VD: What’s your experience outside of Roanoke? 42:37 AE: I like country more than city. I’ve lived in Florida, stuff like that, but I wouldn’t move my kids down there. Florida’s nice if you’re young and you’re single, because Florida’s different, it’s hot, but I wouldn’t move my kids down there. Too many hurricanes to worry about. 43:04 VD: So you think you’ll be in the general Roanoke Valley area probably for a while or do you plan on moving somewhere else? 43:14 AE: I plan on moving somewhere else. I haven’t decided where yet, but I know it won’t be up north because I don’t like cold weather. But me and my son had talked about it. 43:34 VD: Do you think you’ll stay in Virginia or go to a different state? 43:38 AE: Who, my son or my brother? 43:41 VD: Just anyone, do you think that you’ll take them to a different state or stay in the state of Virginia? 32:48 AE: Oh, I’ll go to a different state. 43:51 VD: Where do you think you’d like to live?   21   �43:55 AE: Probably somewhere out Midwest. 44:01 VD: And once you’re able to move away, do you think you’ll be fully sufficient and you won’t need to…? 44:09 AE: Yeah, I wouldn’t try to move unless I already knew I could be fully sufficient. I don’t want to have to depend on anything. When I move I know I need to have a job already lined up and all that. 44:31 VD: Is there any certain thing that you would like to do that you would go into a career with? 44:38 AE: I like to cook, but I don’t know if I would want a career in that. I kind of like helping people too, so I’ve been looking at them two things. And I know Virginia Western, they offer both counseling stuff and they have culinary arts and stuff like that. My son told me just do both. 45:03 VD: Alright and we are wrapping up so is there anything else you would like to add? 45:13 AE: Nope. 45:14 VD: Alright, then thank you so much for letting us talk to you today. We appreciate it. 45:19 AE: You’re welcome. [END]   22   � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Salvation Army Pathway of Hope Oral History Project Description An account of the resource The Salvation Army Pathway of Hope Oral History Project is a partnership between The Salvation Army of Roanoke, Virginia; the Virginia Room, Roanoke Public Libraries; and the Public History Program at Roanoke College. This oral history project is designed to provide select participants of the Salvation Army Pathway of Hope program with the opportunity to narrate and share their life stories with a public audience. We hope that these oral histories not only empower the narrators to tell their own tales but also inspire local and regional audiences to better understand the lives of their neighbors as well as the impacts of inter-generational poverty within our communities. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Salvation Army; Roanoke College Public History Program Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Roanoke Public Libraries Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource All rights reserved. Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource mp3 Type The nature or genre of the resource Sound Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Oral History Interview with Amanda Ervin Description An account of the resource Oral History Interview with Amanda Ervin Interviewer: Vanessa Dotson and Miu Iwasaki Date: 2 October 2019 Location: Salvation Army Duration: 45:22 Transcription prepared by: Kierra Burda Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Salvation Army; Roanoke College Public History Program Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Roanoke Public Libraries Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2 October 2019 Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Amanda Ervin; Vanessa Dotson; Miu Iwasaki; Kierra Burda Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource All rights reserved. Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource mp3 Type The nature or genre of the resource Sound Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context ErvinAmanda https://www.virginiaroom.org/digital/files/original/58/5534/Nicole.MP3 44e065e1fc714b6cd374b37dad30d7fd https://www.virginiaroom.org/digital/files/original/58/5534/Nicole.1.pdf 2fb143df55c29799ebc9380a7b12677f PDF Text Text Salvation Army Pathway of Hope Oral History Project Interview with Nicole October 7, 2019 Interviewer: Shannon Baker Narrator: Nicole Date: October 7, 2019 Location: Salvation Army building, Roanoke, Virginia Transcribed by: Shannon Baker, Paul Martin Duration: 35:19 Timed Index: 0:00 = Childhood and adolescence in Rocky Mount and Roanoke (1990s – 2000s) 4:07 = Career and motherhood 7:08 = Pathway of Hope program and how it changed her life 13:35 = Relationship with parents and religion in her life 18:07 = Moving to Roanoke as a teenager 19:10 = Problems with authority and authority figures 20:53 = Progress she has made thanks to the program 24:02 = History of addiction and ways of working through troubles 26:22 = Losing custody of her children 29:26 = Reconnecting with family 33:02 = Final reflections: what would you tell your younger self and advice to others about the program 0:02 SB: This is Shannon Baker interviewing Nicole for the Salvation Army Pathway of Hope Oral History Project on October 7, 2019 and we are in the Salvation Army building in Roanoke. So, are you ready to begin? 0:22 N: Yes. 1 �0:23 SB: Ok. First off, did you grow up in the Roanoke area? 0:29 N: I grew up in the Rocky Mount, like Boones Mill area. 0:33: SB: Ok, so was it different? Do you think it’s different than Roanoke? 0:36 N: It is. It’s more like country instead of city. 0:40 SB: Ok, so what was it like growing up in this area? 0:46 N: I moved to Roanoke when I was fifteen. I was homeschooled previously. I went into public school when I moved to Roanoke and that was a big change going from country life to city life. 1:02 SB: So, was it a big change going from homeschool to a public school? 1:08 N: Oh definitely. I mean, we did 4-H and stuff but the social aspect was a lot different. 1:16 SB: Do you want to talk a little bit about how it might have been different? 1:24 N: Personally, I gradually went towards the wrong crowds, so I got into a lot of trouble when I moved to Roanoke because there wasn’t anything to do in the country but play in the woods. So, I was grounded a lot. 1:48 SB: Do you still have any siblings that you are close to? 1:51 N: I do. I have an older brother. We are fourteen months apart. We were really close growing up but not so much now. 2 �2:01 SB: So when you started going to public school, did you enjoy how different it was from being homeschooled? 2:09 N: I did … eh, maybe not. I kinda didn’t like the authority part of it. That was just a rebellious thing that I went through. 2:27 SB: Did you have a favorite subject that you liked to learn about? 2:30 N: Probably English. Science. 2:39 SB: Do you think that your teachers were kind of influential in your life or, you said you didn’t really like the authority? 2:48 N: I had a few teachers that, well my math teacher actually was one of my favorite teachers. Not like personally influential though. 3:00 SB: So the school you went to, do you think it was a good school? I don’t know particularly how good the Roanoke County schools were. 3:11 N: I went to Roanoke City schools. They were good schools. I dropped out when I was a senior with three months to go until I graduated, but I did get my GED. But the schools were good. 3:36 SB: Could you tell us a bit about why you dropped out? 3:44 N: It was a long time ago. I really don’t remember. I think I moved to Floyd County with a guy and that was… a relationship. 4:07 SB: So, what … I’m trying to think of the next question. In your adult life what do you do career wise? 3 �4:22 N: I work at a bowling alley. That’s a lot of fun. Before that I was a lunch lady in the cafeteria at a high school. I’ve cleaned houses. I’ve done in-home healthcare. I did that for five years. 4:42 SB: Have you enjoyed what you’ve done? 4:44 N: Very much, yes. 4:50 SB: We saw your daughter when you came in. How old were you when you became a mother? 5:01 N: With my first child I was eighteen. Well I had him when I was nineteen. So my oldest is twelve and my youngest is three. I have five children. 5:14 SB: How has motherhood changed your life? 5:19 N: In every way possible. I mean, you don’t get to be … I was young when I got pregnant so the social aspect you know I had to grow up pretty quickly. And then my relationship ended so I was raising the baby by myself, so that was hard. Throughout the years I’ve had substance abuse issues so that kinda hindered my parenting. But I’ve been sober for four years. 6:00 SB: Congrats. So, you talked a little bit about the social aspect. Do you want to tell us a little bit more? 6:09 N: I mean you don’t get to just go out. You have a kid and you have to stay home and be a mom. I didn’t really have much help. I was doing it by myself. My family wasn’t around so I was kinda place to place. 6:35 SB: What would you say the hardest thing about being a young mother was and is? 6:43 4 �N: I mean still is just doing it by myself you know. I maintain my home. I maintain my vehicle. I have five children. They’re in different places. I only have custody of the little one but you know it’s hard financially, definitely. 7:08 SB: How did you come to find out about the Pathway of Hope program? 7:14 N: I was in a domestic violence situation. So I was at the Turning Point for seven months. I was court ordered there because of my situation and that was in 2015.1 7:37 SB: So you found out about it because you were court ordered? 7:41 N: No, I was in a domestic violence situation so I was at the Turning Point and this was like the aftercare part of it. 7:50 SB: So how did the program work for you? 7:55 N: It changed everything for me. It gave me a safe haven to get my life back and get my children back. I was court ordered there so I had to get clean and I had to get serious about what I wanted, you know getting clean and finding that job and just being a normal citizen I guess. They just gave me that second chance to start over. 8:34 SB: Do you consider it an important [source of] help in your life? 8:41 N: It is the most important thing, yeah, I mean I think without this program I wouldn’t … you know I might not even be here, honestly, because it gave me that safety. 9:05 SB: What exactly … I’m trying to think of how to word this .. what exactly did it do to give you that safety? What did you do with the program? 1 Turning Point is the Salvation Army of the Roanoke Valley’s housing facility for survivors of domestic violence. 5 �9:16 N: It’s fenced in. Your abuser can’t get to you. I was able to just stay safe. I was going through trauma therapy, I went through substance abuse counseling, parenting classes. It just helped me rebuild some of the stuff that I had lost over the years. 9:56 SB: Are you still in the program? 9:57 N: Yeah. 9:59 SB: So what are your next steps? Have they told you, do you know that? 10:04 N: I think right now we’re working on anger management and parenting … parenting skills. And then I have visitation with my five year old daughter. I am able to bring her here on Wednesdays and they have a youth program that my children are involved in. So just kinda maintaining my sobriety and hopefully getting me a new vehicle and getting me financially able to move to a bigger place so I can have my children back under the same roof. 10:53 SB: So it also helps your children, too, this program, the youth program. Is there any other way they can help your kids? 11:04 N: I mean they help me with rides to appointments, they go to and assist with court hearings, doctor’s appointments, if I need a ride or something. 11:24 SB: You mentioned that you’re working at a bowling alley now. 11:27 N: Yes. 11:28 SB: Do you think your work at the Pathway of Hope Program has helped you to get into your current career or do you think that way just … 11:37 6 �N: That was just kind of a fluke kinda thing. I know somebody who bowls there and the lady was needing help and they kinda just dropped my name. That was not really associated with the Pathways [Pathway of Hope]. 11:56 SB: How long has this been? [looking at recorder] Okay. You also mentioned that they are helping you with your anger management. Would you like to talk a little bit about that? 12:17 N: I think I’ve always been … I think that probably stems from my childhood. My parents divorced. A lot of things happened in my childhood and I just grew up. I always felt rejected and abandoned so I was just angry at a lot of things and then that probably introduced my addiction. And then with my children, raising kids is hard, especially by yourself. So you know just healthy ways to interact and discipline… but really just getting control of my emotions. How to take a step back and not react in a split second and make a choice that I would regret. 13:25 SB: Do you … I’m bad at wording questions, I’m sorry. 13:30 N: That’s ok. 13:35 SB: You talked a little bit about your childhood with your parents being divorced. Do you want to tell us a little bit about how things might’ve been characterized? A little bit more about just what it was like growing up. 13:55 N: I think I was probably maybe seven or eight [years old] … around then my dad left and my mom didn’t take it too well. She was really religious, so she was always at church and she would leave us by ourselves. We were home schooled so we would have school work and chores to do and she would just be gone so it was really just me and my brother by ourselves pretty much everyday. And then, me and my mother didn’t get along so I eventually moved to Roanoke with my dad, and that wasn’t a good situation either because my dad’s an alcoholic so it was just kind of like the lesser of two evils I guess. 15:11 SB: You said your mother had been religious, would you consider yourself to be kind of religious? 7 �15:18 N: I mean, I am. I am. I have my faith and I believe, you know, that God is why I’m here, you know? I’ve been through a lot, and… I mean, there’s a lot of reasons I shouldn’t be here, so… I mean, I believe God is the reason I’m here. And my mother has prayed over me and prayed over me, so… I do believe that. 15:59 SB: Well… I’m sorry, I’m bad at wording questions. 16:04 N: That’s okay. 16:08 SB: So… Like, just kind of looking back over your life with your kind of experience with your faith do you think that God has been, like, present in your life, then? 16:23 N: Definitely. I mean, I grew up in church… Well, my dad was Jehovah’s Witness, and my mother was Christian, so they would, like, fight over who was taking me to what place, you know? So that was crazy to grow up in. So I would be at church half the time and then at the Kingdom Hall the other half of the time, so. And then they would argue over their, you know, “I’m right!” “No…” They would, you know, argue their aspect of things. So… 16:57 SB: Growing up with a Jehovah’s Witness for a father must have been interesting. 17:01 N: Very. I mean, I don’t know about interesting, but… I don’t agree with any of that, so. 17:12 SB: Would you want to talk a little bit more about, like, what it was like, I guess? 17:23 N: I mean, I guess that they always argued about their different religion, you know, their aspects… I don’t really remember much about the Jehovah’s Witness part of it, because my dad left, eventually, when I was young, so I just continued to go to church. So now I have been going to church until the last few months because I’m having vehicle issues, but growing up I don’t really remember. 18:07 8 �SB: So… When you moved to Roanoke as a teenager what were… some of the biggest changes that you saw in your life? 18:23 N: I lost a lot of weight, I mean, because I was walking back and forth to school. And I was in the home with my brother and my dad and his wife, so that was a change because before it was just me and my mom and my brother. So that was hard to get used to. Well I think I also resented my dad for leaving, so when he would try to be authoritative towards me, you know, and give me rules, I was like, “No.” So… I think that’s probably where the rebellious part came in, you know? I resented my dad, and I just didn’t respect him, so. 19:10 SB: So, would you want to tell us a little bit more about, like… your problems with authority, I guess, when you were younger? 19:28 N: I think a lot of it, like I said, comes from my resentment towards my parents. I resented both of my parents, you know, because my dad left, and then mom was… not present, so I just felt abandoned, I guess… I’m sorry, what was the question? 19:50 SB: I guess, just like a better way to word it would be… How do you think your issues with authority figures kind of impacted your life? 20:01 N: Oh, authority, that’s right. Sorry. Okay… Well, it started with my parents, and then as I got, you know, into drugs and situations it became, you know, the police and that kind of thing, so… And now I’m still like struggling with authority, because I’m having—you know I have court situations for my custody of my children and I’m having to do what the judge says and I don’t feel… I feel discredited, because of the progress that I have made, I don’t feel like is highlighted, or recognized, so, you know, I guess I’m still a little jaded by that. 20:53 SB: Do you want to talk a little more about how you feel about your progress? 21:05 N: I mean, I’ve lost… I have five children and I have custody of one. I’ve lost all my children due to substance abuse. Now I have a job. I maintain my home and my vehicle and I am a present parent. I have my son on the weekends. I have visitation with my daughter and I have the baby full time. My sobriety is a big thing. I get off probation in January. I’ve been on probation 9 �for three years for a possession charge. To look back from where I was to where I am now is… I don’t feel like the same person. I don’t. I just can’t even understand why I made the choices I made back then because I wouldn’t do it now. I mean I’m really proud of myself. 22:20 SB: Would you want to tell us a little bit about how you kind of managed to get to this, like how you got … words aren’t coming to me right now… 22:38 N: To where I’m at now? My progress? 22:40 SB: Yeah, how you managed to get there. 22:43 N: I think it all started with… well I was in that domestic violence situation with my daughter’s father and I just had enough I guess. And I left and I went to the shelter. He’s incarcerated. He got twenty-seven years. I had eleven years over my head and they gave me three years probation. That was a blessing. I guess it started from Turning Point. That was my second chance. Also, being on probation has also held me accountable. This program, you know J [the program manager], she is really interactive with me. She knows more about me than my parents honestly. 23:46 SB: So J has really just been a force for good in your life? 23:50 N: Yeah. She’s been a guiding light. 24:02 SB: Would you want to tell us about your history with addiction? 24:11 N: I don’t even know how old I was. I guess it started… when I was twelve or thirteen and I just was smoking weed because I thought it was cool, I guess. I started drinking a lot because my dad was an alcoholic so I saw it a lot so I guess I kinda fell into drinking a lot. I think I’ve tried everything. I was addicted for a long time to the hard drugs and… I’ve been clean for four years. There was about ten years, I would get clean and then fall back into it. I think losing my children was like… kinda propelled it because that’s a loss. I guess I was covering up my feelings in an unhealthy way. Now J has helped me kinda … talk things out or write it down or do it in a healthier way. 10 �25:39 SB: So you like to talk things out and write things down to work through things? 25:45 N: Yeah, instead of reacting. 25:49 SB: Are there any other ways you like to try to work through things? 25:53 N: I’ve learned to crochet… I don’t know, I just like to stay busy. I love my job, I mean, I take extra shifts. I just work, and it’s really a boost of confidence, you know? Because before I didn’t care about a job, you know? 26:22 SB: So would you want to tell us a little bit about losing custody of your kids? 26:37 N: I had my oldest when I was nineteen and then I guess he was three when I lost custody of him to his grandmother. His grandmother has had him since he was three and he’s twelve now… Then I had another daughter, she was born with drugs in her system and she was in the NICU for a week. And I had a spinal fluid leak, so I had a spinal migraine, so I wasn’t able to see her while she was in the NICU… I guess I started… I was doing cocaine a lot, so I got her taken for that, and then I went to thirty-day residential treatment, and a family had her that I went to school with their daughter, and they had her, and they ended up adopting her… What’s next? Then I had a son, and then another daughter. I had them until four years ago with this recent situation. My recent charges… And I lost both of them in 2015, so... And I’ve since had the baby. I had the baby while I was at Turning Point. 28:20 SB: So… how did you feel when you lost custody of your children? 28:34 N: I was ashamed, and I think I just used more to cover it up… I kind of just kept it going, and then I would have another baby and get clean and start using again. And I mean it all has to do with your surroundings, so I wasn’t around the best people, so, you know… I guess I struggled with, you know, I felt abandoned since I was young, so I just always wanted to be included and accepted, so I just… just drugs were my go-to. 11 �29:26 SB: Do… Do you think—I’m just checking the time [looking at recorder]—Do you think that since you’ve made all this progress you’ve found a place where you might feel a little more included and accepted? 29:45 N: I mean, my job. I love the people I work with, you know. I actually have family members who work there, so… that I didn’t know worked there, because I’ve always been… I didn’t attend family functions, because I was always off doing my own thing, so when I got this job I didn’t know my uncle and his wife work there. You know, it’s just a nice fit. I love my job and I love everyone here at the Salvation Army, so… And my family, you know, me and my mom have gotten really close. 30:28 SB: So you’ve managed to reconnect with some of your family members? 30:31 N: Yeah, and my dad as well. You know, me and my dad went, I think, four or five years without speaking, and then, you know, he’s recently gone through… treatment, as well, so he’s trying to stay clean. I think we’re… I mean, we go to meetings together, AA [Alcoholics Anonymous] meetings together and stuff. And then I go to church with my mom in Rocky Mount, so… I’m kind of slowly rebuilding. 31:09 SB: So with that like… with that like, reconnection with your family, are you happy to have that back in your life? 31:25 N: Yeah, I didn’t think I would ever, you know, have that. And at one point I didn’t want it back, you know? Because I had so much resentment and anger, so, but you know… I am imperfect, just like they are. Now that I have children of my own, I see how, you know, life hits you and you do things and you just do what you can in the moment, you know? I mean, I’m trying my best to keep… to not let my kids see me struggle, and you know, I don’t blame my parents, you know, because they did the best they could. Once I forgave them, and I guess they forgave me, too. 32:20 SB: So you’ve been kind of… learning how to forgive, I guess? 32:30 12 �N: Yeah. Forgiving myself is the hardest thing, because I just… My kids don’t deserve the situations that they’re in. Their home lives are… you know, and they’re in these situations that they’re in because of choices that I made, and I was selfish and didn’t put them first, you know? But I was young, so you know, I didn’t know. If I knew then what I know now, you know? 33:02 SB: Well, if you did know then what you know now, what would you go back and tell yourself? 33:08 N: Don’t do drugs. Family is really important, you know. Hold on to your family… Just believe in myself more, because I discredit myself, more than anybody I criticize myself. Just really kind of embrace who I am. 33:45 SB: So… Looking back on all the stuff we’ve talked about, do you think that there’s anything we didn’t really talk about that you’d like to talk about? 34:10 N: I don’t think so. 34:17 S: Well, I guess my last question for you would be, so, with the Pathway of Hope program, what would you tell anyone who was thinking about trying to get into this program? 34:38 N: I mean, don’t hesitate. I mean, it’s a great opportunity, and it really, honestly, has saved my life. I mean they genuinely care about people, and I mean, it has just changed everything about my life. And I would just really encourage them to just get the information. 35:07 SB: Anything else you want to add? 35:10 N: No. 35:12 SB: I think we’re good. Alright. I’m going to end the recording now. [END] 13 � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Salvation Army Pathway of Hope Oral History Project Description An account of the resource The Salvation Army Pathway of Hope Oral History Project is a partnership between The Salvation Army of Roanoke, Virginia; the Virginia Room, Roanoke Public Libraries; and the Public History Program at Roanoke College. This oral history project is designed to provide select participants of the Salvation Army Pathway of Hope program with the opportunity to narrate and share their life stories with a public audience. We hope that these oral histories not only empower the narrators to tell their own tales but also inspire local and regional audiences to better understand the lives of their neighbors as well as the impacts of inter-generational poverty within our communities. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Salvation Army; Roanoke College Public History Program Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Roanoke Public Libraries Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource All rights reserved. Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource mp3 Type The nature or genre of the resource Sound Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Oral History Interview with Nicole Description An account of the resource Oral History Interview with Nicole Interviewer: Shannon Baker Date: 7 October 2019 Location: Salvation Army Duration: 35:19 Transcription prepared by: Shannon Baker and Paul Martin Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Salvation Army; Roanoke College Public History Program Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Roanoke Public Libraries Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 7 October 2019 Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Shannon Baker; Paul Martin Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource All rights reserved. Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource mp3 Type The nature or genre of the resource Sound Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context Nicole https://www.virginiaroom.org/digital/files/original/58/5533/J.MP3 0ef8cb038e66b872170f567d93276743 https://www.virginiaroom.org/digital/files/original/58/5533/J.1.pdf ecc6a97f4c18a9cd7ee9b4a4f565fb7c PDF Text Text Salvation Army Pathway of Hope Oral History Project Interview with J October 25, 2019 Interviewer: Samantha Meyer Narrator: J Date: October 25, 2019 Location: Salvation Army, 724 Dale Ave SE, Roanoke, Virginia Transcribed by: Liz Lee, Megan Reynolds Duration: 40:42 Index: 0:00 = Introduction of interview 0:22 = Brief self-introduction by narration 0:55 = Growing up in Craig County (1980s-1990s) 1:56 = Experiences at college; developing interest in social work 3:42 = Moving to Roanoke three years ago 4:52 = Work at the Salvation Army 9:40 = Services that the Salvation Army offers 11:54 = Main goals of Pathway of Hope program 13:56 = Discussion of Pathway of Hope program; responsibilities, current numbers of the clients, changes, funding & budget 17:17 = Future of the program 20:14 = The narrator’s motivation to work for the Salvation Army 22:52 = Support from public of Salvation Army 24:26 = Experiences working at the Salvation Army’s Turning Point shelter 26:43 = Experiences with domestic violence; connection with clients on this issue 30:21 = Rewards of job 31:24 = Perspective on life; experience in first social work class 34:10 = Personal goals 36:43 = Personal goals for her daughters 37:56 = Advice for people interested in social work 39:55 = Closing remarks   1   �00:00 SM: This is Samantha Meyer interviewing J for the Pathway of Hope Oral History Project. It’s October 25, 2019 at 9 a.m. and we’re in the conference room at the Salvation Army in Southeast Roanoke. Thank you so much for meeting with us today. Could you start by telling us just a little bit about yourself? 00:25 J: I’m 36 years old. I’m a single mom of two teenage girls. I have been a single mom now for thirteen years, doing it by myself. I’m a college grad with a master’s [degree] in social work. I’ve been kind of all over the field. That’s about it, I guess. 00:55 SM: Where did you go to school? 00:56 J: In the sticks, is what you’d call it. Craig County. 01:02 SM: Is it here in Roanoke? 01:03 J: No. It’s about 45 minutes away from here. 01:06 SM: Okay. 01:07 J: So, picture, you know, Franklin County. Kind of like that. 01:10 SM: Okay, so you are local to Virginia. What was going to school like? Did you always know that you wanted to do social work? 01:21 J: Going to school… when I went to a pretty much all-white school. So I was the only biracial kid there, which, pretty much, [I] was always referred to as like the black kid that never, actually   2   �I guess, had a name. So it really sucked. I got bullied a lot. Hated it, wanted to get homeschooled. My mom wouldn’t let me, so I just kind of became tough. 01:52 SM: And that was like elementary school, middle school, high school? 01:55 J: Yeah, they are all together. 01:56 SM: Okay, and then, so where did you get your degrees from? 02:00 J: I got my bachelor’s... well, I first went to Virginia Western Community College for my Associate’s [degree] and I went to Mary Baldwin [University] for my Bachelor’s [degree], and Aurora University for my Master’s [degree]. 02:14 SM: So, when you went to college, did you know that you wanted to do social work? Or did you kinda go in not knowing what the heck you wanted to do? 02:23 J: Well, ever since I was a kid, originally, I had this dream I was gonna be a veterinarian, and that was what I was gonna do. And... I met my now ex-husband, in an early age so… my beginning years of college I kind of just failed out my first year for not going. And then [I] got kinda confused I guess what I wanted to do, and I worked for a couple of vet offices, and…thought I’d get my foot in the door and then tried to go to [Virginia] Tech to be a vet. And I had an allergic reaction to somebody’s animal, and I realized, like, that probably was not gonna be the field that was gonna be the best suited for me. So, I kinda was like, “What am I gonna do?” So, I took general studies, and you know, with all the craziness that I guess was going on in my life at that point…someone said, “Did you ever consider doing counseling?” I was like, “No, why would I do that?” So, I was like, “Well, hum, you know, I do pretty good with talking with people.” So took a few classes and I fell in love with psychology, and social work was a lot easier to go into than getting a degree in psychology to do practically the same thing. 03:42 SM: Okay, so how did you find yourself ending up in Roanoke? 03:46   3   �J: In Roanoke, probably because in the little, small town which I grew up in, there are not any real employment opportunities. About the only thing that is over there, there is a grocery store, a Subway, and a Family Dollar are the two biggest like, named places that you would recognize. So those were not necessarily options that I wanted. And most people from over there travel either to Roanoke or Covington to work at the paper mill, that was also not an option. So came over here and started working and this is where I was coming to school, and I moved to Roanoke three years ago. After my dad passed away, there just wasn't anything really keeping me in Craig [County]. 04:39 SM: Oh okay. What did you do, did you have a previous job here before you worked at the Salvation Army? Or have you been working here ever since you moved to Roanoke? 04:48 J: I've been working here the whole time I've been living in Roanoke. 04:52 SM: Oh okay. How did you find yourself at the Salvation Army? 04:58 J: I was doing my internship. I actually was working at the local detention center. And interning, doing part of my internship there. But couldn't do all of it, since I work there. So I was interning at our battered women shelter. And they liked me, so they offered me a job. 05:17 SM: Okay, what was that like working at the shelter? 05:24 J: I mean, this work, there's never a dull moment. I gotta say when you're in social work you see a little bit of everything. I tend to get drawn to where I have a passion about something or where I have previous experience personally. So, I picked … there to do the internship and had a connection at the detention center. So I just felt like it was another learning experience on the way to kind of become a well-rounded social worker. 06:00 SM: So you would say that, that experience of the detention center definitely helped you with the things that you deal with here and the clients that you deal with here? 06:09   4   �J: Not necessarily that one so much. But…all of it pieced together makes me well rounded, to pretty much deal with any type of clientele because I've worked with adult ex-felons in my previous history. I was an EMT [emergency medical technician] at one time, so, I mean, I've seen a little bit of everything. The detention center, it's just juvenile criminals…so I've seen it where it starts and where it ends. So that's why I feel like it makes me well rounded, because I've seen it from total different spectrums of it, so… 06:58 SM: So, what does a typical day look like here? Is there one? Is it something different every single day? 07:06 J: I’d say something different every single day. This is probably more chill out of anything I've ever done. I do usually stay pretty busy, because I never know like when someone's gonna come in and need something and, you know, like yesterday, I had all this stuff planned out I was gonna catch up on paperwork. It didn't happen, because little things happen. But… I'm not dealing with individuals in crisis so much here. They may have moments of crisis but this position is a way of preventing people from being in crisis. Whereas most of the other jobs I’ve had, you know, they are kind of draining. I mean, you have to be prepared for this type of work. You have to love what you do. Otherwise, you get burn out really quick. 08:04 SM: So, what are some of the challenges that you face working at the Salvation Army? 08:14 JM: Hm… I mean for most people… I like the fact that it's a religious organization. I'm a religious person. But it's not when it is like, I think people get a misconception. It’s not like it's put on people. You know, if someone needs it, then we talk about it. But I like that we have a good support system and we are a team here. It's one of the first places I can say that I have worked where that actually is true because other places that the challenge has been ‘it’s every man for themselves’ and people get thrown under the bus. The biggest challenge here is not taking your stuff home with you. That's pretty much anything in social work because it's frustrating and irritating and when you like can't figure out a way to fix a problem, and you see people suffering, and you know, you try and do everything in your power and you're met with obstacles from like other things, and you know, you have to maintain boundaries and not overstep. It's hard not to be like, “Oh, well if I was a millionaire, how could I just solve all of this and I would just feed everybody and house everybody,” but you know, that's not realistic. 09:40   5   �SM: I guess I should have asked this before, could you explain a little bit of like what the Salvation Army as a whole does, like what kind of services they offer, and how they help people? 09:53 J: So, well, here locally, …we did have a homeless shelter for men but that's closed. Now we just have a DV—which is domestic violence, sexual violence, sex trafficking—shelter that is open to anyone that has experienced any of those. We have a new day center, which houses 18 to 24year-old youth that have aged out of foster care. That, the foster care part, is not a stipulation to be able to go down there. During really hot weather and cold weather we have cooling and warming stations, so people can get in and out from the weather. We have the Pathway of Hope, which is a program to help stop intergenerational poverty. We have aftercare, which is case management for those that have completed programs to kind of make sure that they maintain and stay on the right track. We have pastoral care, which an officer or someone more connected with the church is there to support and talk to somebody if they need it, pray with them, and just give them a little extra support system if they don't really have one or if they’re interested in learning more religiously. Then they have the church service stuff that they offer like for the youth, which is kind of like how Girl Scouts are, they can earn badges and stuff. They send kids to camp. I’m probably forgetting something… they have stuff for senior citizens… 11:54 SM: Could you, kind of, elaborate on the Pathway of Hope and what the main goals of that are? I know it's to target intergenerational poverty, but maybe talk about that a little bit more? 12:06 J: So, with Pathway of Hope, the biggest thing is to formulate a relationship and its… I know with my place the concept is to have a team and to work together to figure out what goals they want to work on. There are assessments that people do that help us figure out like where their level of hope is, are they ready to change, and willing to change their circumstances, and based on those assessments figure out if that is a good candidate for the program. Because, it's not just open to anybody. It is a process. Because if someone has no real hope of changing of circumstances, nor are they willing to put in the time and effort, obviously that's not an ideal candidate, but that’s part of it. They assess their weaknesses and strengths to figure out how to build good action plans to accomplishing some of the goals. So, you know, we help them see, like, the bigger picture to try and set forth a no-fail hopefully direction into accomplishing their goals. And then any other little supports that they need, you know, to advocate for them because, you know, sometimes people don’t understand how the system works. Sometimes people are met with discrimination; that’s where I come in, you know, I go to court with people. The whole point is to give someone the life that they want to have, that they feel like is too far out of their own reach.   6   �13:56 SM: Has it always been… how long has it been a thing at the Salvation Army? Has the Pathway of Hope always existed for a long time? Or is it like a newer program? 14:09 J: It's a newer program. I've been here for three years and it started here when I started. 14:15 SM: Okay. So you've been working with the Pathway of Hope since you've been here. 14:18 J: I have not since I started. So, I originally was at the shelter. There was another case manager for this, and they have since left. So I moved over into this position. 14:34 SM: Okay. So how—cause I know you said you go to court with people—what are some of the other responsibilities that you have within the Pathway of Hope program? 14:46 J: The thing is there really aren't any designated responsibilities. And just, I’m just like “Okay sure, you need me there, I'll be there.” I do whatever needs to be done to make sure that the individuals that I work with feel like that they have a strong support system and I'm there through whatever they need me to be through. So, if somebody wants me to go to the doctor with them, I’ve done that before. You know, I’ve gone with a client to find out what the gender of their baby was gonna be. So, I mean, I really don't have a restriction on what I do it kind of depends upon the relationship with that client and what they need from me. 15:29 SM: How many clients are in the program here right now? Just a rough estimate... 15:36 J: Technically ten. It’s like, I’ve just got on three more they aren't officially in it, so… 15:43 SM: Okay. What's something that you… Is there anything you would change about the way that the Pathway of Hope program operates, or do you think it's doing what it's supposed to be doing? 15:57   7   �J: Well, we already just recently made some changes cause the program was gonna be, you had to either be working full time or part time and going to school. And I felt like that kind of shut out a lot of people that needed us and were probably willing to participate in the program. So now it's kind of been opened up a little more to people that, you know, may be on disability or if someone is actively wanting to change their situation and willing to put in the effort, then I'm willing to work with them. 16:33 SM: Okay, that’s awesome. How do you guys, like, get your funding for the program? Is it nonprofit just by donations? Or is it there like a set budget? 16:50 J: So it’s a little bit of everything. So, we have a donor that supports this program and… money that we get from… is it DHQ? I tend to get those mixed up…we get money from them. So, grants are another big thing.1 17:17 SM: What's something that you want to see happen with the Pathway of Hope? Do you want to see it like expand and get a lot of people? Or do you think it's okay how it is right now? 17:35 J: I hadn't actually thought of that so… Hmm, I mean ultimately I think anybody wants to see their program grow… I think, and I don't know like if it would even be possible for Pathway of Hope because the title of it, should expand and not necessarily offer hope to just families. It would be nice to be able to see Pathway of Hope be able to work with anybody that wanted to change their circumstances ultimately because families aren’t the only thing that are in poverty, but I mean it's an ideal place to start to see, like, if a program is gonna work and how many people are going to be invested in it, but it would be nice to see if it could grow in that direction to be able to help more people. 18:27 SM: What is something that people probably don't know about the program that you want them to know. Like, what, why is it important? I mean, you kind of have touched on that already but… 18:39 J: Um… One thing I feel like a lot of people had a misconception of is what Pathway of Hope was because my biggest thing was that I wanted to try and sell it on people, like myself, that you know, I had to kind of maneuver a system on my own the hard way and figure things out and                                                                                                             1  DHQ may be a reference to the Salvation Army National Capital & Virginia Division’s Divisional Headquarters.   8   �didn't have a good support system when I necessarily needed help with things and was kind of combated with some discrimination and something like this could have been helpful, but I was also prideful and didn't really want to ask for help. So those types of people that are like “Alright, well I'm not as bad off as this person over here,” and plus you don't want people to know what you're going through and struggling, because you want people to think that you have everything together and you don't want the outside world to know. So my biggest thing was trying to let people know that “Okay, this program just isn't for families necessarily in poverty,” because people hear that word and it naturally seems negative and people are like “I'm not in poverty, though.” But, if you're struggling and you're having a hard time, then, could you possibly be more open to a program that stated that it was for working families? So, try to emphasize that more so. 20:14 SM: Do you see yourself… what drives you to keep working here and working with the program and at the Salvation Army? 20:25 J: What drives me? Um…my biggest thing, I guess, is that knowing everything that I’ve been through, over the years, that I wanted to make sure that people could see me as a role model for the fact that you don’t have to go through this alone, that you can overcome your circumstances, and reach your goals. Because a lot of people look at me, they don’t know my past, they make assumptions. So, what drives me is, when I see people dealing with some of the same things that I have and we’re able to build a connection, to be like, “I was once in your shoes but look at where I am now. You may have lost all hope, but I’m telling you that hope is possible and you can come up from what your current situation is.” That’s what drives me. And I think that certain people just naturally maybe have that in them. I think we’re drawn to certain things based on our own personal experiences and because our personalities just fit with that type of work. 21:55 SM: So do you see yourself staying here for a long time or is there something else you want to move to and go off and do different things [laughter]? 22:08 J: So right now, the goal is to stay here for a while. I mean, before, you know, I did contemplate and think about going into other things because originally, when I decided to go into this field, I was really fascinated with criminal justice too, so that’s how I got involved working with the exfelons and the juveniles and you know, I was trying to double major and I thought, like, maybe I’ll be a probation officer. And who knows what the future might hold, maybe one day I’ll do that, but right now I’m pretty content where I’m at.   9   �22:52 SM: If people want to get involved with Salvation Army, what are some of the options for them? 23:03 J: Like anybody? You mean, okay so volunteering…? 23:06 SM: Yeah, or donations or just if someone off the street is looking to help the Salvation Army and support what you guys are doing here, what are some of those options for them? 23:19 J: Well, we do have a volunteer coordinator, so anytime anybody wants to give back and do stuff, you know, they’re looked at, what their skill sets are, and they connect them to where it’s gonna best be fitted here. Like this time of year, bell ringing is a big thing. Donation-wise, people just send money and it specifically states that it comes to Roanoke or if they have a passion about a specific…what’s the word I’m looking for… group that they want to work with. Some people, you know, they have a passion for domestic violence victims, so they specifically want money to go there. Some deal with youth so people specify in that manner. We have had people have special, and they donate proceeds to us. So, there are different ways. 24:26 SM: I’m going to back track a little bit. What did you do when you first started working at the Salvation Army? What were some of your responsibilities and your title, I guess? 24:39 J: So, I was a case manager at the Turning Point and pretty much it’s the same concept as what I do here, except those clients are in crisis mode. So, it’s like, alright what are the first few things that we have to get done, so that means dealing with the legal system a lot more than what I do now. It means getting protective orders, it means going to court numerous times, that’s custody, that’s, you know, it could be all sorts of different legal things depending upon what it is. So, you become close with the police department and judges. You know, you build these connections with them and then the rest of it is setting goals, trying to find housing, and jobs for people, whereas most of the clientele that I have now are usually already housed, already have a job, or they have some sort of an income because they are on disability or something. So, they’re past the crisis mode, it’s just the matter of making sure that the people I work with now maintain and don’t become homeless versus these people [who] ran from a scary situation. They don’t really trust anybody so trying to build that connection is a little bit harder because you’re just kind of like everybody else that’s ever said that they’re going to help and it’s like “are you just doing this ‘cause it’s your job, or do you actually care what happens to me?” type thing, and it’s also frustrating sometimes, and scary, because when they go back you don’t know, are you ever going   10   �to see them again? And, you know, in those situations it’s hard for your client to be like, “you don’t understand what I’m going through!” But there again, I’m like, you can’t always judge a book by its cover because you don’t know how much I actually do know about what you’re going through. 26:43 J: I was a victim of domestic violence, and I get not trusting and I get that people don’t understand why people go back every time. And logically, now looking back, it’s like, I don’t really know what I was thinking, but I can see and it’s like you do kind of want to be like, stop and think, because I know where the end is going to go. But, in those moments, like, I know what they’re thinking. You think that you can change them, that you’re going to make things better. People stay because of kids, that’s the biggest reason. You know, I did. But then I tell them that story, and I tell them, like, I’ve seen the worst that could happen because I lost my mom to a domestic violence situation. My dad killed her and then committed suicide. So, I’m like, you may think that that cannot be you and it’s not like I thought that was going to be my life story. I also swore that I wasn't ever going to be in one of those situations because of what happened to my mom. I thought I was smarter than that and was in better control, but sometimes you fall right into those same footsteps. 28:09 SM: So you definitely think that your story has helped you a lot, especially working in social work because you can build that connection with those clients and have you had instances where they really had a kind of moment of clarity and they were kind of like “wow, I see J and how much she has changed” and heard her story and that has really helped them? 28:34 J: Mm-hmm [yes]. ‘Cause lot of people are like, well… and especially when I was over there more so, and I have one client now that I have seen her from when she was my client over there and then she transferred to Pathway of Hope. But I didn’t see her for a little while and now I’m her case manager again. And we have a good rapport with one another, and her story is amazing. It’s her own though, of course, so I won’t get into that, but you know, someone looks at you and they think “this person has their life together, they're doing well, emotionally stable, there is no way that they could have ever [emphasized] been in my situation and understood. Because someone who looks like that could have never once been where I am.” And it's not one of those, in this field, it's not about you, and I don’t share my story unless I feel like it's necessary. I've had to a few times and then the next thing, you know, they're crying and apologizing to me, which I'm at a point in my life where I can tell that story and not get emotional. So, I think they’re like “wow, okay, well then, you know, that does give me hope that if you're able to do it, then I can as long as I have a support system.” So, I have seen plenty of people go on and do well and make   11   �it on their own and become strong, independent women. And I've also seen people continue to stay in that same revolving cycle. 30:21 SM: I'm assuming that is really rewarding to see these clients go from such low points to high points. What does that feel like to see the transformation of some of these people? 30:36 J: I think that it makes this whole job worthwhile because those are the days that you live for and they make… well, they make me push harder and drive through because I realize that there are going to be the days that there’re going to be clients that are lost. That there are clients that you're just not going to get through, and they are frustrating and it makes you question and wonder why are you even in this field doing the work that you do, and you’re like “maybe this isn’t right for me. Maybe I suck at this,” and then you have that one come along that’s like “my life changed because of you” and you're like “okay, this is why I do what I do.” 31:24 SM: That’s awesome. Do you ever find yourself, because you talked about how people judge you, they judge your book. Do you ever find yourself doing the same, vice versa, for some clients, they seem one way but turn out to be totally different? 31:39 J: [pause] I can't really think of any time that I have, I think, you know, I mean it's human nature to judge at times, but for whatever reason, I don’t know, when I got into this field I never thought that I would be so open-minded to things. The first class that I ever took, the professor asked us, “in this field, what is the one group that you would ever refuse to work with?” And she asked the entire class that, and most everybody said pedophiles or sex offenders and that was one. And at my very first internship, that was, kind of like, what got put on me. I was dealing with people that committed murder, had sexual assault [charges] and different things, but it was one of those instead of going by what someone else told me about this person or reading their file, giving that individual the opportunity to tell their story to me so I could understand, and it helped me to just be open-minded and to not judge people. Because it's really easy to be on the outside, looking in, and make judgment on somebody if you don’t understand their story. 33:12 SM: So, do you think that working here and working with so many different types of people has definitely helped you just in life, in general, and in the outside world, outside of work, just having different perspectives about people and about life? 33:27   12   �J: I do. I think that being connected with working with different types of people, it helps you to be patient, to be more kind, to want to be more helpful and to realize that the world has already probably given up on a lot of those people and they know that. So, why not be the one person that maybe sheds some light and gives hope back to the individual. I'm a firm believer that everybody is capable of change, if given the right tools and resources. 34:10 SM: That’s wonderful. We’ve been talking about a lot of the goals of the Salvation Army and the goals of the people who come here and what we want for them. But what is something, what are some of your personal goals, for your life, for your family, your career? 34:32 J: Okay so, well, the biggest one—I've kind of accomplished them at this point—my biggest one was that I was going to finish college because I really didn’t feel like that was going to be a possibility. And I had so many people telling me that I wasn't going to do it, and I wasn't capable of doing it, and that I should just maybe settle, you know, with being a single parent and that maybe I wasn't college material, which just fueled me that much more to try and prove everyone wrong. The only person I had backing me, my dad was the one person that from the time I was small always told me I could do anything that I set my mind to. And he believed that I was capable of doing great things, believed in me when I didn’t believe in myself. And after he passed, I was in the midst of my bachelor’s [degree] and I pushed on through and got it, and decided that he really wanted me to do things. So, I was like, I'm going to take a break from college, and I when I went back I was like “I want my Master’s.” And I finished that in a year and I feel like that was, based on some of the stuff he instilled in me. I never thought that I would be a homeowner. So, that’s another goal that I just accomplished this year. So, probably about the last one is a title promotion [laughter] so I'm working on that. So then, I think, I’ll have to revisit the goals. Maybe I’ll think about my retirement plan. So, I don’t know. 36:43 SM: What are some of the goals for your daughters? Do you want to push them to go to school since that was something so important to you? 36:54 J: I do, and that I think that has also driven me, being a single-mom. I wanted to prove that you can be a strong, independent woman and that anything life throws at you, you are still capable of doing what it is your heart desires and that people are going to judge you and try to knock you down but you can still accomplish anything. I think that they have realized that, you know, it is okay to ask for help, but sometimes you have to take initiative and learn to do things for yourself and be driven and goal-oriented. Right now, they talk about going to college. The funny thing is,   13   �my oldest says that she wants to be a vet so I'm like, “Hmm, I wonder if she's going to do that.” And the other one says that she's going to do what I'm going to do. So, we’ll see. 37:56 SM: That’s great. Do you have any advice for people who maybe want to get involved with social work and that’s something that they are interested in doing with their lives? 38:08 J: I would say the first thing to do is before you dive right in, because it's not for everybody. And I think for people who have naturally helping personalities, it's a good thing. Because I was once of those “I'm going to save the world and I want to help everybody,” and you’ve got to first learn to one, have boundaries and realize that you can't help people who don’t actually want to help themselves, and instead of trying to fix your friends and your family find a job because at least that will be more rewarding. So, volunteering at places to see if this is what you want to do because if it's not the right fit and you’ve already invested all that time and effort, and school, and then realizing that this job isn’t for you because of how widespread and the trauma and all the stuff that you have to deal with. Figure out what your passion is and then figure out what resources are available in the community. And even if that first place I would say isn’t necessarily where you feel like “this is where I belong,” I would say don’t give up because I jumped around to a few different places to be like “what do I like, what do I know I definitely don’t want to do in this field?” And I think that way you can decide “I like this, I don’t like this. I can tolerate these things.” And then you'll know if this is a good fit for you. 39:55 SM: Thank you. That’s all the questions that I have. If there's anything else that you want to touch on or something that we didn’t get to that you think is important, feel free to share. 40:09 J: I don’t know. I guess, did all of y’all [everyone in the group] kind of come up with the questions together? 40:15 SM: Yeah. 40:17 J: I can't think of anything. 40:19 SM: Okay. Well, thank you so much. This was such a great opportunity. I think that it's really going to help the narrative of the whole project, the fact that we got to talk to you and not just the   14   �clients. I think it's going to make a really big difference and we were really grateful to be able to talk to you and this whole experience has been really great. So, thank you so much. 40:40 J: You’re welcome. 40:41 SM: Thank you. [END]   15   � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Salvation Army Pathway of Hope Oral History Project Description An account of the resource The Salvation Army Pathway of Hope Oral History Project is a partnership between The Salvation Army of Roanoke, Virginia; the Virginia Room, Roanoke Public Libraries; and the Public History Program at Roanoke College. This oral history project is designed to provide select participants of the Salvation Army Pathway of Hope program with the opportunity to narrate and share their life stories with a public audience. We hope that these oral histories not only empower the narrators to tell their own tales but also inspire local and regional audiences to better understand the lives of their neighbors as well as the impacts of inter-generational poverty within our communities. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Salvation Army; Roanoke College Public History Program Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Roanoke Public Libraries Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource All rights reserved. Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource mp3 Type The nature or genre of the resource Sound Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Oral History Interview with J Description An account of the resource Oral History Interview with J Interviewer: Samantha Meyer Date: 25 October 2019 Location: Salvation Army Duration: 40:42 Transcription prepared by: Liz Lee and Megan Reynolds Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Salvation Army; Roanoke College Public History Program Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Roanoke Public Libraries Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 25 October 2019 Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Samantha Meyer; Liz Lee; Megan Reynolds Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource All rights reserved. Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource mp3 Type The nature or genre of the resource Sound Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context J https://www.virginiaroom.org/digital/files/original/58/5532/Mitchell-PetersShaNeika.MP3 903b7a9c64cf8947c571791d93142c4d https://www.virginiaroom.org/digital/files/original/58/5532/Mitchell-PetersShaNeika.1.pdf c905c2adc6e0fbee44a08699a788b502 PDF Text Text Salvation Army Pathway of Hope Oral History Project Interview With ShaNeika Mitchel-Peters October 9, 2019 Interviewer: Grace Priddy Narrator: ShaNeika Mitchel-Peters Date: October 9, 2019 Location: Williamson Road Branch Library, Roanoke, Virginia Transcript Prepared by: Garrett Channell, Grace Priddy, and Rebecca Smith Total Time: 56:05 Index: 00:00 Experience with Pathway of Hope in general 07:35 How Pathway of Hope helped her children 08:53 Family life with her mother 10:39 Education 11:30 Transitioning out of the Pathway of Hope Program 13:40 Salvation Army resources and services 17:12 Transitioning from Washington D.C. to Roanoke, Va. 18:23 Growing up in Roanoke 20:03 Reflection on the program 21:06 Family life with her son 24:58 Salvation Army resources and services 28:41 Profession as a teacher 33:19 Religion 35:31 Family life with her mother 43:59 Teenage years, growing up in Roanoke 47:43 Pathway of Hope essay 49:07 Community service experiences 52:09 Experience with Pathway of Hope in general 00:00 [Sound Testing] 00:05 GP: Hi, my name is Grace Priddy and today I am interviewing ShaNeika Mitchel-Peters at the Williamson Road Branch Library in Roanoke, Virginia. Today is October 9th, 2019 and this is for Dr. Rosenthal’s Public History course at Roanoke College and our Salvation Army Pathway of Hope Oral History Project. We know just the basics of how the Pathway of Hope program works. From your experiences can you just give us [how] you have seen how the Pathway of Hope program works? �00:44 SP: I’ve been in the Pathway of Hope program for maybe about a year to a year and a half now. It all started when I did the Angel Tree. So it started from there, when I would go pick up my son’s Angel Tree gifts. They had asked me if I wanted to do an essay. So I told them “sure, I would do an essay.” Well, if you win you win a hundred dollars, first place, then there’s second place and third place. So I said “Okay, fine,” so I went and did my essay, and they called me a few months later and was like “Well, congratulations, you won.” I was like “Oh, yay!” So they called me, I had a plaque, I took it with the lieutenant and they gave me one hundred dollars. And basically my essay was about at first, when I first started, it was only just me and my son. So I just basically said that I want to help the community. I have a heart for helping children, because I am a teacher. So I have a heart for helping children, helping families, and different things like that, and also to help my son to have a better education, and future, and everything. They helped me get on the right path, gave me budgeting classes and just basically asked me what is it that I wanted to do as far as them helping me to make my life and my son’s life better. So I basically explained to them that I wanted to get my own car. I wanted to basically have other resources of education to help my son’s future become more brighter. Help me with my finances for me to get them in order, not so much for them to do stuff for me but to tell me how to get everything in order so that my son could see that my mom has helped me a lot because I am a single parent. Of course they helped me, they gave me different resources to help my son get on a higher educational level, make sure he has everything that he needed education wise and make sure that I have everything I needed so I can keep him happy as well as give him everything that he needs. I was working with one of the instructors and basically any event would come up, anything learning wise, anything with the library, anything like that she was telling me about it. And I was like “Oh, okay.” So they make sure you stay on top of everything. I was like “Okay, that’s cool,” and I needed that extra push. Even though I have my mom, but you know, we always listen to our moms, but I needed that extra from outside of my family box. And they were very patient. They weren’t trying to push me, but it was like “Hey, I see that you are feeling down, let’s give you a push up.” They really want to help the community, and that was one thing that wanted to do was give me different community projects that were out there to do. So they really listened; not like a counselor, but kind of around [like a] counselor. They basically were—I don’t know what you can call it—my back up. If I feel like I’m about to fall, they’re going to push me back up. They helped and assisted and everything. They make sure every year I know different parenting tips and tricks and everything. So I was like “Oh, okay.” Then I finally got pregnant with my daughter, and they made sure I kept my appointments, they made sure I stayed healthy, they made sure I had everything that I needed. They were there for me as far as if I need anything for my daughter, or my son, or myself, making sure I didn’t fall under the postpartum depression. They would call to check and make sure, “Hey, are you okay?” They wanted to make sure I checked in once or twice a week, just to make sure that I am still in uplifting spirits. I really appreciated that and they were awesome. They also, when it comes to trying to help families, it’s not like they were trying to enable them. They’re trying to make sure they can do stuff on their own, and they’re not being a crutch. So I   2   �was like “Oh, okay” and I liked that. I like positive feedback, as well as you can tell me direct criticism. Tell me if I am doing something wrong and I will accept it, and they were really welcoming on that as well as watching to make sure that my feelings weren’t going to get involved. But they helped a lot. I mean, I’m upset that I’m leaving them. But they’re pretty good, they’re great. And actually all of them have grown up with my son and with my daughter, so I would recommend them to just about anybody. 06:20 GP: So you touched on what you learned about it, and what brought you to it. So, in the beginning, what was it like? Them being there now? What was life like? 06:34 SP: My life was pretty good. It was good cause I had a good head on my shoulders and everything. It was basically just them raising me higher, at a higher standard. Because I was basically borderline, like “Okay, let me do the bare minimum.” So they helped me to do more than the bare minimum. Like, let’s take you a little bit higher, let’s put you out there, step out on your faith instead of just thinking about how “Oh, I can’t do it.” Oh let’s just try, then if you can’t, then we can adjust and see where we can push you back again. So they wouldn’t let me give up. So I was like “Okay, that’s pretty cool.” Now? It’s like I’m out there like, “hey, I’m about to try this, I’m about to try this, I’m about to try that,” and it is because they were right there to push and make sure that I stay stable. So I was like “Oh, okay.” So now I feel like I can basically just conquer the world [laughter]. 07:35 GP: With your children, your son and your little baby, how has the Program really helped them and assisting you with them? 07:45 SP: A situation happened with my son where he had [been] bruised by his teacher, and of course I went to my worker and I talked to her about it, so it was a whole situation that I had to go through of trying to get him into a new school and transportation and everything. She basically went out to make sure I had all of the resources that I needed. The system went and basically pushed me and my son down, so she made sure I had resources of how to have transportation for my son, and if they could, make sure I talked to the right people about him getting bruised, and different things like that. With my daughter, they have helped me with diapers, clothing, getting her a crib, changing table, making sure that I stay on point with her getting her shots, and making sure that I’m still in high hopes with them and encouraging them, as well as trying to make sure that I am caring for myself. 08:53 GP: So you mentioned your mom, tell me more about her? 08:57 SP: My mom’s awesome [laughter]! I love my mom, she is awesome. She’s my biggest support, because, of course, we’re not from here, we’re from Washington D.C., so it’s just me and her down her besides my two children. So she’s a huge part of my life. Before I was able to   3   �purchase my own car, in July, she let me use her car for me to get to work, for me to get to church, get them to their appointments, get my son to school, all of that. So my mom, I really can’t even explain it, she’s amazing. She’s always supporting me, making sure that I know that I can do everything, anything that I can put my mind to. So she is right there, and anytime I have any issues or anything, she is there to tell me if I’m right or if I’m wrong. “Nika, you need to do this.” “Nika, you don’t need to do that.” She’s basically, I don’t know what to even say, she’s my best friend. She also encourages to not think about what others think, as far as with me being a single mom and having my two kids. She’s like “Nika, don’t even worry about all that. You’re doing a good job. You’re providing for them. Keep going with what you’re going with.” And she also encourages me to go back to college and finish, because I stopped, and she’s like “No, go back. I will help you with whatever you need, I’ll help you watch the children, whatever you need, even if you need some ‘you’ time, I’ll get them.” So I was like, “Oh, okay.” My mom is my biggest, biggest, biggest supporter. 10:39 GP: So you went to college, and then you left? Where did you go? 10:45 SP: Virginia Western. I went for early childhood development. But of course I did not continue. I only went for like a year. So my mom was like “hey, you only had one more year, what happened?” And I was like “I think I really got burned out coming straight out of high school and going straight in, I think I kind of got burned out.” She’s, right now, like “Nika, come on, let’s go, you can do it.” And I think I really got relaxed because I have my CDA, which is equivalent to an Associates [degree], but she’s like “No, let’s push higher.” And I’m like “Okay, fine.” So I’m planning on trying to go back in January. But I think my worse thought is I’m afraid of fractions. [mutual laughter] 11:30 GP: How has the Salvation Army and your mom, how have they… I don’t know what I’m trying to ask here. I’m formulating the question! [mutual laughter] I’ll come back to that. So, you’re transitioning out of the Salvation Army, going out into the world, and going back to college. How is that process going? 11:58 SP: It’s going smoothly. They actually told me ahead of time “Hey, it’s about coming to an end.” And they didn’t want me to go because I’m very high spirited and they love when they talk to me and different things. But it’s going smooth, and they have also told me that if I need anything, I can contact them, any encouragement I need, I can still talk with them. It’s just the program part, the Pathway of Hope, I’m getting out of. As far as the Angel Tree and everything, they said I can basically do that program still, until I get up to three times, then we’re done. I think, basically, since last year when I first did the Angel Tree, with the help of Pathway of Hope, it has helped me budget my money more. So I can have my bills paid, as well as provide for my children. They taught me how to have this budget for my bills, and budget for extras like as far as Christmas and if something were to happen, like at the time you get your car and with me doing the budgeting class, so I was actually able to purchase my car a week before my birthday in July. Which they were excited about. They were like “yes, we made a big   4   �milestone!” I’m like “yes!” Cause I didn’t have a car for like four years, so with the budgeting classes and their encouragement they helped me to be able to get me my own car, which I love. [laughter] 13:40 GP: Can you tell me more about the Angel Tree? 13:42 SP: The Angel Tree, they allow each child three times to—three years—to get assistance. So they’ll ask me the mandatory stuff, which is shoes sizes, coats, clothing if you need it. Then they’ll ask for three different items that your child really wants. Of course, over the years I’ll listen to my son to see what he wants, and I went and basically did it. And they were like “Okay, that’s pretty good.” So last Christmas, when I got his items, it was right on point what he needed. So this year, they gave me the opportunity to come ahead of the crowd and do for my son and my daughter. And even like when he was sitting there playing, they were attentive to listen to him as he was playing with his toys. He wasn’t so much talking to me, but he was playing with his toys and they were like “Do you think he’ll like Legos?” And I was like, “Sure, yes! How did you know?” And they said “We can tell he’s very hands on.” Like unless you were really paying attention to my son, you would not think he is hands on but he’s very hands on and he loves books. So they got excited because I didn’t just ask for toys, I asked for learning things as well, like books and little flash cards, and different things like that. So they were like “Oh my gosh, yes! That is awesome!” I’m like, I’m a teacher, like come on! They were very attentive and they were watching my daughter as she was playing with my son. And they were like, “Oh, it seems like she likes loud things.” And I said “Yes!” It was like they made the process easy because they were attentive and watching them as well as talking to me and get a feel out and ideas from me. Which I like that they have a variety of things. They don’t have “You can’t get this; you can’t get that.” They more so want a child to have something they are going to learn and play with instead of video games and just them sitting there watching a TV all day, which I like that as well. 16:04 GP: So you get involved with other activities throughout the community, can you tell me some about those? 16:10 SP: I help with if they have those book-bag drives, I’ll go and try to assist if they need my assistance. Or I’ll ask “Hey, do y’all need anything?” Or when they have the activities for my son’s age, they’ll invite me to come so I’ll go and just overlook and see what’s going on, what I need to [give] my input on, or not say anything. Different activities, I bring to them “Hey, y’all should try this, try that.” Or if they have a coat drive, or I know I did when they needed clothes I took bags of clothes for the needy families and different things. 17:08 GP: So you moved here from Washington D.C.? 17:11   5   �SP: Yes. 17:12 GP: What was that transition like from Washington to here? 17:15 SP: Oh it’s boring. [Laughter] Well I moved here when I was younger. I think I was about 10. So the transition was kind of hard for me because I was leaving all my family. And it’s not, as far as I said, it’s boring, there’s not as much to do here as it is there. Here everything closes literally at nine. There you can go to different stores and do different shopping and different things like that. So the transition was really really hard because I was leaving my family. Which I grew up, all the way until I was 10, with my family, so that was more so the hard part. But of course, my mom and my dad they made it smooth. We came down here and we visited here a few times back and forth, but my mom was like “Nika, we gonna move here” And I was like “Huh?” I missed my friends, and I missed my family most of all. But it was kind of a smooth transition because my mom didn’t just throw it on me, she eased it in. So it was kind of smooth. 18:23 GP: What was it like growing up in Roanoke? 18:26 SP: I was popular. [Laughter] I really didn’t too much do anything, because I was into Barbie dolls and reading books, so I wasn’t really into going outside and playing. I did go outside and play little bits with my cousins, some of them would move down here. So I went outside and played with them. As far as school wise, I got straight As, A/B Honor Role, President Award for academics, like all that. So I made sure I read. My mom, when I was younger, she made me look at different words in the Bible—not in the Bible, in the Dictionary—and basically do definitions, maybe five different words each week and do the definition and learn that way. I was great at math, still am. I did spelling contests. I played basketball. So basically I was very athletic. I was the only girl on my all-boys team, so I was like “Hey, this is pretty cool.” But I stayed very active, I wasn’t just sitting around the house. I did other things as well as family vacations and different things like that. 20:03 Looking back, at the past year, year and a half, what is something you would tell yourself then, now? 20:16 SP: Keep pushing, and move forward. And try to get your education and basically think more highly of yourself. And just encouraging myself, like “I can do it. Don’t give up. You can do this.” And just pushing myself forward to become more successful. 20:40 GP: [For] people in the community, would you recommend going to the Salvation Army for that extra push, that back up support?   6   �20:48 SP: Yes. I very much would. 20:50 [Silence] 21:06 GP: Your son, did he get his love of reading from you? 21:10 SP: Yes! 21:11 GP: Yeah? Tell me some about that. 21:14 SP: My son, at first he didn’t like to read, because he can hear that he has a small lisp. I couldn’t hear it, but his doctor discovered he had a small lisp. So he liked to look at books but he wouldn’t too much read out loud. He at two years old he had a whole big book shelf full of books that he would look at, and I would hear him in his room, but when I would come around he wouldn’t too much say anything. He loved to talk, but when it came to structured talking he wouldn’t too much say anything. I kept encouraging him, of course, and helping him to read different books. And of course he was looking at me like “Mommy, do I have to?” But I basically just kept encouraging, kept encouraging. And basically I finally went to his doctor, and, I love her, she encouraged him as well to read a small, little book. And she noticed, and was like “I have to talk to you.” So he went out into the hallway with my mom, and she was like “He has a slight lisp. Unless you know what to look for you wouldn’t know he has it. But he can hear it, even if you can’t hear it. So that’s what’s making him so shy to read.” So we got him involved in speech therapy, and she’s helping him. She said his lisp is very, very shallow, but when it comes to hearing yourself, you can hear it more so than the person that’s listening. So she said that’s why he’s shy to read out loud to his class or to other people. So once he started doing speech therapy, and me being very patient with him, and helping him to say his words properly. Then now, he actually just got called in his school for being one of the best readers, the top readers. So I was like “Yes!” It basically boosted his confidence more, so now he has his book now, it’s called Dog Man and Cat Boy, and he loves that book. So now, he’s like “Mommy, I want this, I want that one.” And I’m like “Okay, okay, okay.” It basically helped him, as well as my mom’s like “Nika, we just got to figure out what we can do and everything.” So now, I told him let’s read to your sister. So, what his doctor said is with me doing that its going to boost [his confidence] more cause his sister is on his level. Cause its not an adult, or his peers, or his friends, its his sister. And she said, well family members, children have a thing that they know that their family members are not going to judge them, but their friends will. So they were like, to boost it up let him continue to read to his sister. So he’ll be like “Okay, let’s read a book,” and she’ll just sit there and smile at him and smack the book and everything. But he’ll read to her, and he’ll say the words right. Now he’s not afraid to ask me “Mommy, what is this word, what is that word?” or to sound it out. So he’s gotten like a   7   �thousand times better, it’s like a thousand times better, with having the confidence to read. So he’s great now with reading. 24:58 GP: So the Salvation Army has different programs throughout the week, correct? 25:04 SP: Yes. 25:05 GP: Can you elaborate on those? 25:07 SP: A lot of programs I couldn’t go to, because of my work schedule, and because I am the lead teacher of a classroom, they were like “you’re never getting off, you got to be in the classroom,” so I was like “Oh, okay.” But they have different programs. Like they have paint night, they have some type of Lego night. It’s not “Lego Night” but the kids can build stuff with Legos. They’ve had where they’ll tell the parents about having different skate nights in Vinton. I don’t think [at] Star City too much, but the Vinton skate rink, Firehouse Skate Rink, they’ll let you know “Hey, this event is going on, we have free tickets, come pick them up, how many do you need?” They’ll try and make it like a family get-together so you can also be with your family, but introduce yourselves to other families. They have bowling nights where, I think it’s the bowling alley on Williamson Road, that they say “Hey, you’ll get free bowling, free shoes rental, everything, you ask if you need.” They do the circus. It was another event, it was a concert, a Christian concert, they asked me if I wanted to do that, and I was like “Sure,” and that had other families as well. So we got to do that. It’s so many different activities that they’re like “Do you want to do this? Do you want to do that?” And I’m like “Yeah, yeah, okay, okay.” Then they have the parents’ night, where the children will go and be amongst their friends or peers or new friends that they can meet while they have little talks and snacks with the parents. For the parents they have parenting classes where they’ll watch the children and then they’ll do the parenting classes. There’s like so many classes and activities it’s not even funny [laughter]. But they keep you involved and not just sitting at home and not doing anything. And they keep you involved, as well as your children, so your children won’t fall short of not having that love and caring and everything. 27:29 GP: What friends and people have you met throughout all the different programs that you’ve been to? 27:36 SP: I’ve met three people. I like to help the community, but, I don’t know how you could say it, I liking helping others but at the same time I’m standoffish. I’m weird, I know. As far as when it comes to people, I’ll help whoever, but at the same time I’m like “Okay. Alright.” I’ve met three families. And they’re pretty cool, and my son plays with one of the family’s daughter. So it’s pretty awesome and we actually found out that one of the families they play Upward   8   �Basketball with my son, so I get to still see them when basketball season comes around and he still gets to interact and play with them and see them. 28:41 GP: What really developed your passion for teaching? 28:45 SP: Oh! That’s easy. I love kids. Like children—that’s my thing. I like to see them having their own personality, how they develop, how they learn. I want to be the one to assist them with getting their life, like encouraging them and being successful. I’d rather start when they’re younger because most people, they try to help the older kids, and the younger ones fall short. Because people don’t have the patience to deal with the younger ones so I’m like, “Hey I’ll be the one to deal with them.” I teach them basically anything you can think of: like how to selfhelp, self-sooth, help them with learning, anything like if I see a child put their head down I know it’s something that they feel that they’re not going to be successful with. So I’m like, “Okay, let me figure that out,” and basically boost their confidence. I teach them as many languages that I know so they won’t feel that they’re basically secluded in this one box. I help them to explore and like, “You can step outside the box. Let’s go outside the box.” I help them with that and the main thing is having the patience. And making sure that they stay on track and them knowing that they can do it, and encouraging them. I love just watching their faces, how they glow when they are doing anything, and even if they do it wrong, let them know it’s okay. You can do wrong. And basically helping them be okay with themselves, not think, “Oh, I did this wrong, let me back up.” But let them know it’s okay to do wrong but you can learn from your wrong. Maybe you’re wrong might make a new right. So it’s like, “Let’s try this out. Don’t be stuck in this bubble like you can’t do other things.” And with children, they are like glue. Anything you do, it sticks to them. So I want to help them basically broaden their mind instead of being so small and don’t know it. Like “I can’t do this, I can’t do this.” Yes, you can. You can do anything that you put your mind to. Basically children, I love them. [laughter] 31:18 GP: How have you used your skills that you developed in the classroom outside the classroom? 31:22 SP: I know one time, I can give you an example, I was at a grocery store. And this mom could not figure out why her child was shutting down on her. And she tried everything, and she was like, “Hey, I’ll give you candy. I’ll do this. I’ll do—.” And she couldn’t figure it out. Well, I asked her, “Do you mind if I try something? I’m a teacher. I’m not weird.” And she was like, “Sure.” So I was like [to the child], “What’s going on? You can tell me what’s going on. I won’t think of you any less just let me know what’s going on.” And it was something as small as he didn’t know how to tie his shoe. And other kids teased him for not knowing how to tie his shoe. The mom was like, “He never talks to people. Like what is going on?” And I was just like [to the child], “It’s okay, you can learn any kind of way you want. You don’t have to learn just like your friends. You can learn anyway that you want.” And he was like, “Okay!” And he got excited and like, “Mom, I can do it! I can learn any kind of way!” And she was like, “Okay!” So I basically just told her, “Go on Youtube. It’s different things, techniques that he can learn. You don’t have to just learn two bunny ears then you tie. It’s a whole bunch of different techniques.”   9   �I said, “If he doesn’t figure that out, then do a different one. Keep trying and have patience with him until he figures out one that he can use.” And I told her, “Just let him know that he has a voice, even though other people are telling him, ‘You can’t do this. You can’t.’ Let him know he has a voice and he can have other ideas. You don’t have to go with the flow of everybody else.” And she was like, “Oh, thank you so much!” Well, I think it was like a year later, I saw them. And every time he sees me, he’s like, “Hey!” And he hugs me every time he sees me. And she was like, “Oh my gosh! He was like, ‘You helped,’ and all he talks about is you and how he can do anything. And I was like, “Oh, why thanks.” [laughter] 33:19 GP: So you mentioned “Upwards” and you’ve mentioned the “Back-Pack” Program and the Christian Concert: Are you a Christian? 33:27 SP: Yes. 33:27 GP: You are? 33:27 SP: Yes. Ma’am. 33:29 GP: How—[SP sneezes]—Bless you. 33:31 SP: Thank you. [Both laugh] 33:34 GP: How has church and your religion helped you throughout your time? 33:39 SP: I just know, like, as far as my church, they teach having faith and everything. They teach basically through anything, no matter if you feel that you failed, or anything, just make sure you have the faith of God and always call on Jesus no matter what. I’m teaching basically my son the same thing and my daughter understands. I teach her the same thing. But, I basically lean more so on our religion, on being a Christian, because I’m like, “If anything, I need help.” My pastor, she’s great with teaching us: no matter what’s going on, make sure you still pray. You, even though you might feel at your lowest, still have faith. Because, at the end of the day, God helps with whatever it is that you need. I take heed in that. And even when I feel sad or anything, I go and I talk and I pray to God. And then, later I feel more uplifted. So this whole process is like, I stay consistent as far as talking with my pastor, and praying, and making sure everything is going like it’s supposed to be. So being a Christian is pretty cool, because I know at the end of the day God has my back and Jesus is watching over me. And I have the Holy Spirit to lead and guide me.   10   �35:31 GP: Going back to your mom, how has she inspired you to grow into this very strong woman that you are today? 35:38 SP: My mom is very strong. She’s very strong in how her faith is [as] well. So she encourages me and she prays for me like constantly. Or she’ll, if she sees that I feel a little bit stressed, she’ll be like “Nika, let’s pray.” Of course, we’ll pray and everything. And she is like, “It’s not as bad as you think,” or “It’s not going to go down this path. Let’s think more positive, towards this way.” My mom, anything that my mom has ever went through, she came out of. And I believe it’s because of her praying and getting through it. Like right now, my mom, she’s dealing with her sciatic nerve. And me watching her keep pushing though even though she will be hurting and everything, she still pushes through to make sure that I’m okay and make sure that my son’s okay. My mom, she’s a pusher. And she’s very strong. So she’s like, “Nika, no matter what goes on, just basically stay strong. Smile. Keep the faith.” And my mom, her main thing is to smile. She’s like, “If you smile, all darkness will just basically shatter.” So she’s like, “Just keep smiling. Just keep thinking positive. And if you ever think that, oh something is going to go wrong,” she said, “No. Think about what will go right.” No matter what we’ve gone through, as far as the move here [to Roanoke], me going through different relationships, she’s always like, “Nika, you’re going to get through it and you can do it.” And she’s like, “Just stay strong through everything, because nothing in life, like as far as what you did those years ago, well you’ll probably forget about it in the future. And you’ll be like, ‘Oh, that happened?’” So she was like, “Don’t let one situation just bring you down. You’ll have other experiences, other lessons to learn, other things to get through.” So I’m like, “Oh, okay.” 37:48-37:59 [Silence] 38:00 GP: So your mom helping you through your relationships, do you want to talk about that some more? 38:03 SP: Um, I just had a few relationships… things that happened [laughter]. Basically, I was the positive one in the relationships and they were always negative. So my mom was like, “Nika, you need to leap out of that.” Because any positive that I would bring, they would try to bring negative and push my positive down. So, it would push me down. Like, whoa, shoot, okay maybe I shouldn’t think positive. But my mom was like, “No. Always think positive. Even if something bad has happened, still think positive.” And she was like, “Nika, if that situation is not working, that’s not the only relationship you’ll ever have.” So I was like, “Okay.” Of course I was like, “Well, fine.” So with my mom, she hasn’t been in a relationship, like her [own] mom and step-dad got a divorce and basically me seeing how she can still move and get through stuff, I’m like, okay, that’s fine if I don’t have a relationship. And she’s always telling me, “Wait for the right person to come.”   11   �She was like, “Don’t just settle. Wait for the right person to come. And I’m like, “Okay.” And she’s like, “When the right person comes, they will see that your positive will boost them up instead of them trying to push you down.” I was like, “Well, alright. That makes sense.” So I was in two bad relationships where they wanted to just push me down. Nobody ever hit me, no. But they wanted to push down my high spirits. They were like, “No. This is going to go wrong. Well, no, don’t think positive about that, that’s going to go wrong.” So I was just like: you know what? Run for the hills. And I did. Basically, I’ve been single for eight years. And it really doesn’t bother me. I mean, I see people and I’m like, “Hey, hey, hey.” But it really doesn’t too much bother me, because I’m going on what my mom is saying. Like, the right one is going to come. It’s going to happen. I’m not really trying to be like, “I got to find it. I’ve got to find it.” And my mom was always like, “The right man will find you.” And I’m like, “Okay!” [laughter] So I’m pretty good and secure. 40:16 GP: Has you mom’s influence impacted your children in any way? Like have you seen her personality in them, you’re like, “Whoa”? 40:24 SP: Yes! [laughter] But my son is so much, there is so much my son does like my mom. It’s not even funny. Like, he talks like my mom because, my mom, she says every syllable and he do that. And I am like, “huh?” Cause like her “s” carries, and his does the same thing. And I’m like, “Oh my gosh!” And with my daughter, she is very loving like my mom. She’ll give a hug in a minute. She’ll try to encourage anybody. And if I’m giving her a hug, she’s like, “No! No!” Cause she’s only eight months old. Like, “No, no!” She goes, and I’m like, “Okay, you want a hug, okay, come on.” And my mom, she suckers you in. And I say, “You do the same thing.” So, its like basically different pieces of my mom’s personality is in like different ones of my children, each one of my children. So, I’m like, “You’re acting like your grandma right now.” But, one thing they did get is her positive attitude. And, they’re always smiling. Like, always smiling. So, I’m like, even when I feel like I would like to be left alone. It’s like they pick up on it, and they come in, “I love you mommy!” Well, my son and my daughter, she goes, “Ma-mama-ma-ma!” And I get her, and she’s hugging and kissing on me. It’s like, my mom has that, it’s called a discerning spirit, and she can pick up on anything. Like, literally. And I’m like, “Man!” So, my son is the exact same way. Like I can smile, I can act like everything’s okay, even if I am stressing about something at work. I can smile, and he goes, “Mommy, how was work today?” And I’m like, “How did you know? What is going on? This is so weird!” And I’m like, “Oh, I’m fine,” And he goes, “No you’re not. You’re sad.” And I’m like, “What? How do you know these things?” And then, the next thing I know, my mom is texting me, ‘Well, how was work?’ And I’m like, “Wait a minute! Do you have a camera in my house?” And I’m like, “Why? What’s going on?” And she’s likes, “I don’t know, you just seem off.” And I was like, “No I didn’t. I was smiling.” And she was like, “And I’m your mom, I can read through that.” And I’m like, “Yeah, okay.” But like, I was like, “My son asked the same thing.” And she was like, “Well, he’s his grandmother’s child.” And I was like, “Hehe.” But her strength, as well, has impacted both of them. My daughter can fall and hit her head, and she will not cry. And I’m like, “what in the world?” But she would go like this, and she’s good. She got that from my mom, and same with me because I got it from my mom. So, I’m like,   12   �“Huh, you got that from your grandma.” And, like with my son, he’ll do something, but be like, “But, it will be okay. It’ll be okay.” And he’s more positive. Even if, something if he got an F on his test. He’s like, “Oh my gosh! But it’s okay! I’m gonna do better. I’m going to bring it up.” So, my mom does the same thing with him. She’s like, “It’s alright. You can always bring it up. It’s just one test. Just keep going forward.” And he thinks like that now because also I do the same thing. So it’s like, if you see my children and me and my mom is not around, you’ll be like, they got some positive people around them because anything that happens, they are like, “Okay! It’s gonna be okay!” And they’ll keep going forward. 43:49 GP: So growing up, she was always like super positive, like smiling? 43:59 SP: Yes! 43:59 GP: Very strong? 43:59 SP: Yes! 43:59 GP: So tell me about your teenage years, and like growing up with your mom. 44:01 SP: Oh! Those were cool. I never really got in trouble. My mom, she’ll sit down. And she’s like “Nika…” She’s like one of those open moms. She’s like, “What’s going on? Tell me what’s going on. You can talk to me.” So, anything that I ever went through—good, bad, exciting, anything—I could go to her. I can basically be like, “mom this is what is going on.” And she’ll see my point of view. She’ll see my point of view, and she’ll be like, “Okay, Nika, this is what you might need to do.” Or, “Okay, Nika, let’s add this into it. So, my mom she encouraged me when I told her I wanted to play basketball. She was like, “Okay!” So after maybe three years of doing basketball, she became our basketball coach. She was like, “Well, I wanna try, too.” So she asked me, “Nika, do you think I can do this” or “I think I can do this, what do you think?” So we both basically complemented each other and made sure like, “Yeah mom! You can do that! You should try it!” So, she basically encouraged me the whole time. If I didn’t want to do something, she was like, “Nika, you can do it.” So, I told her, “Mom, I want to cheerlead.” She was like, “After basketball, what in the world?” And she was like, “Okay, well you can try it.” And I tried it, and she was like, “You don’t like it?” And I was like, “Unuh.” So like, anything that I say ‘mom I want to do,’ she’s like, “Okay, go for it! Just try it out, there’s nothing wrong with trying.” And like if I wanted something, she was like, “Nika, there is no harm in asking. It’s best to get a no, or you think you’re gonna get a no, but you might actually get a yes, so just ask.” And I’m like, “Oh, okay!” So, she encouraged me to work, and once I got my first job, she was like, “How are you liking it?” She was always like there, like if I had issues with my job, she’s like, “It’s up to you. Whatever you want to do. Don’t just stick to one thing, if you want to do something else, try it.” So including when I was like eleven, I was helping her do her own in-   13   �home daycare. And I was like, ‘that looks fun,” and she was like, “If you want to help, you can!” So, she never really let me say that I couldn’t do anything. She was like, “Just go for it. Just try it. There is no harm in trying.” So I was like, oh okay. We basically were best friends even in my teenage years. 46:35 GP: So, going throughout the program, what was her encouragement like then? 46:37 SP: She’s still encouraging. She was like, “If there is anything that you don’t think I can help you with then you can ask them. Or if you think my point of view might be too strong, ask them.” She’s like, “You can ask other people; you don’t have to be confided in asking me.” She was like, “Sometimes, even though I might tell you a point of view you might not see it because I’m you mom. Your thing is, mom is going to tell you this, that, and the other.” She says, “You can ask for a second or third or fourth opinion. You don’t have to just stay with talking to me. But always know I’m going to be here, whenever you need me.” Or anything like that. She was like, “If you want to do it, you can do it.” Even when I was doing my essay, she was like, “You know how to write, go for it!” And after I read it, she was like, “Goodness girl, I didn’t know you knew how to write like that!” So, my mom, she was very encouraging, and telling me that if I needed any advice or anything, to just come to her. But, she’s like “you’re grown, so do whatever it is that you want to do. And if you fall, I’m here to pick you back up.” 47:43 GP: Your essay, what was it about? 47:45 SP: It was about basically me helping children, helping the community, helping families, me being a teacher, as well as making sure my children—well, at the time it was just my son—was on the education level that he needed to be on or higher. Make sure I stay encouraging, positive. It was about my mom helping me, allowing me to use her car. Or, she would take me places. She is always encouraging. Whenever she could help, she was going to help. It was also about me being a teacher, me wanting to move forward and get my own car, and soon to be a homeowner. And just different things like that. But to mainly make sure that my children had stability and had that success level. And making sure that they can do whatever they set their minds to, as well as me making sure that other children in the community know that they can make it. Being a single parent is not as hard as people make it seem. That single moms could do whatever it is that they want to do. 49:07 GP: Out of all the community service and work that you’ve done throughout your life, in the community, what is your most memorable experience? 49:17 SP: Trying to think. [pause] There’s a lot of them. 49:32   14   �GP: Well, share ‘em all! 49:35 SP: My most memorable, I think it would be when the church had this event that we did, and I had basically asked my church family because I knew that we had to do a coat and hat drive, and glove drive. And I went, and I normally don’t like talking in front of people, but still at my church I talked in front of them and asked could they help with the coat and hat drive and everything? They assisted as well as me donating my son’s old coats because I’m a mom that you got to keep stuff nice. So, I just washed up his coats and took the coats and hats to a drive that was going on in the community. And I took all the coats, the hats, box of clothing, everything to, what’s it called? It’s a shelter. I can’t remember the name of the shelter. We took them there and just looking at how the families went through the stuff, and they were smiling and excited. I was like, I got to help them, like this is what life is about. Basically putting smiles on other people’s faces. I just basically took the stuff there, and they were smiling and happy. As well as we were having a drive at my job, and I got all my son’s shoes, his clothes and everything, and I took it to my job. And, the people just get whatever they wanted, and they did. They were like, “I don’t know who did this, but thank you! Thank you!” I always tell people that I want to be anonymous. I’d rather they see what was going on than to say “Oh, thank you!” “No, this is just a helping hand, and it’s just to help you get through whatever it is that you need help with.” So basically my most memorable is giving donations to the families that are in need, and basically just giving them the leg up. Like, “Hey, even though you might not have the money, it’s somebody else that will help you out and give you what you need at that time.” I think that it is basically giving things that I don’t need or use to needy families. 52:09 GP: So, in the program, going through it do you set tiny goals to get to this checkpoint, and to get to this checkpoint, to kind of work your way up? 52:20 SP: Yes. My first goal was to make sure that I had my finances stable. So, I did the financial budgeting class, which was my first goal to make sure that I stayed steady instead of just saying, “I have money! Let’s go!” They helped me to be like, “Okay, stay focused.” So, I made a plan, and I basically executed my plan of ‘get what you need, not everything that you want.’ You can take a little bit of money and splurge, and get something, but don’t just go splurge. And then you’re like, “Aw, man, I need this, or I need this.” So I basically executed that. As well as make sure that with my finances, that I fix my credit. Get the little things off of there, which everyone has hospital bills, and get little things like that off to make sure that the bigger picture was me getting my car. So I basically executed the small part of making sure my finances were in order. Then my next step was making sure I take care of my debt. Then after that, it was like, “Okay, well let’s save the money.” Then, it was higher and higher until I could actually go and purchase a car. And then, as far as with my children, making sure they have what they need, everything they need first. Which is shelter over their head, lights, water, different things like that. Then go into the clothes and the food, and then get higher and higher, to be able to when we go to the store and my son says, “Hey mom, can I get that?” I’m like, “Sure! Go ahead!” And it’s not like I go, “well we don’t have money for that.” So it was like starting small because basically everything we do revolves around money. So, I had to make sure my finances were good and   15   �stable before I could go any higher and say, “Hey! I can do this!” Basically, I made sure that I had a solid foundation with my finances before anything else can stack up. 54:47 GP: You told us what you would say to yourself going into the program. What would you say to other women that were in the same situation you were going in? 54:57 SP: I would tell them, there are other people out here that could help, because at a certain point, people think well, if I ask fo help, I would be begging. I tell them, you can get assistance, you don’t have to beg. You can get assistance. Don’t be ashamed to want to get assistance or help. Even if people say, “Oh, well, people that get assistance, they put them in this category.” No, you can get assistance to help you to basically blossom up, and you don’t have to stay on that assistance, but just get the small—start off small—and get a little bit of assistance and then grow out to where you can do it by yourself. 55:49 GP: Thank you for coming here and interviewing with us. We really appreciate you telling your story. 55:55 SP: Oh, thank you! 55:56 GP: And letting us listen to your story, it was so cool! Thank you so much! 56:02 SP: You’re welcome! Thank you! [END]   16   � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Salvation Army Pathway of Hope Oral History Project Description An account of the resource The Salvation Army Pathway of Hope Oral History Project is a partnership between The Salvation Army of Roanoke, Virginia; the Virginia Room, Roanoke Public Libraries; and the Public History Program at Roanoke College. This oral history project is designed to provide select participants of the Salvation Army Pathway of Hope program with the opportunity to narrate and share their life stories with a public audience. We hope that these oral histories not only empower the narrators to tell their own tales but also inspire local and regional audiences to better understand the lives of their neighbors as well as the impacts of inter-generational poverty within our communities. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Salvation Army; Roanoke College Public History Program Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Roanoke Public Libraries Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource All rights reserved. Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource mp3 Type The nature or genre of the resource Sound Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Oral History Interview with ShaNeika Mitchell-Peters Description An account of the resource Oral History Interview with ShaNeika Mitchell-Peters Interviewer: Grace Priddy Date: 9 October 2019 Location: Williamson Road Branch Library Duration: 56:05 Transcription prepared by: Garrett Channell, Grace Priddy, Rebecca Smith Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Salvation Army; Roanoke College Public History Program Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Roanoke Public Libraries Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 9 October 2019 Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource ShaNeika Mitchell-Peters; Grace Priddy; Garrett Channell, Rebecca Smith Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource All rights reserved. Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource mp3 Type The nature or genre of the resource Sound Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context Mitchell-PetersShaNeika