Family literacy helps her revive, realize her dream

Henderson, KY

Her story began as so many other stories do. Angela had loving parents. They encouraged her to dream and seek her dream.

That changed one day in 1991, when her father died of a massive heart attack. When he died, so too did her dream of becoming a nurse. But family literacy eventually got her back on track.

She left college the year after her father died. Within five years, she had two children, and her mother was diagnosed with terminal brain cancer – another blow to her dreams.

Unfortunately, the next chapter in her story is all too familiar as well. She tried meth to deal with her grief and soon was hooked. By 2000, she had lost custody of her daughters and eventually lost her job.

When she hit rock bottom, she began drug rehab and worked to regain custody of her daughters. One of them brought home information on family literacy. Angela was under supervised visitation with her children, so she took the flyer to her next court ordered appearance and asked the judge if she could attend the program.

Within a year, she decided to go back to college to pursue a career in nursing – 15 years after abandoning her dream. The family literacy staff helped Angela apply for financial aid. She graduated from the nursing program in 2008 and works at a hospital in Indiana.

Angela credits the family literacy program with rebuilding her hopes and dreams – ones that she is passing on to her children and to other parents in the program.