After 10 years of struggling to support her family amid Puerto Rico's recession, Diana made a brave decision.

She accepted her friend Andrea's invitation to bring her adult daughter and three granddaughters to live with Andrea in Florida. Diana uprooted her family and headed for Tampa.

At first, everything was fine. But after a few weeks, Andrea's husband no longer wanted Diana and her family living with them.

They had to leave, immediately.

Diana didn't know what to do. She couldn't take her family back to Puerto Rico. She needed a solution.

She called the Crisis Center and connected with an intervention specialist in the 2-1-1 contact center. Diana explained her housing needs and also disclosed concerns about her 4-year-old granddaughter, Mia's developmental. Mia's speech and motor skills seemed to be delayed.  

Diana was connected to care coordinator, Isabel, who realized she couldn't help Mia until the family's housing situation was resolved. She linked Diana to a Tampa Housing Authority program that provided a deposit for an apartment and rent payments for three months. Then, she evaluated Mia and gave the family resources to help Mia achieve age-appropriate development.

The family now had a place to stay, but still had nothing to make it a "home."

The Crisis Center provided gift cards to Walmart, developmentally appropriate toys and books for Mia and her siblings, and a referral to an agency that furnished the family's entire apartment - including curtains, a washer/dryer, sheets and towels.

Diana's phone call to the Crisis Center of Tampa Bay helped her family find emotional and physical stability.  Moreover, it kept the family intact and working toward a new life in Hillsborough County.

To learn more about how the Crisis Center provides help, hope and healing to people in crisis, take a lunchtime tour of the facility. Click HERE to learn more about Crisis Center tours.