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Late one evening, after a night of partying and heavy drug use, Robin realized enough was enough. As she stood outside waiting for the bus to arrive, she knew she had hit rock bottom.

At the end of each RISE Initiative cohort, an empty seat is hard to find in our main conference room. Participants, their families and friends, and staff swarm the space to celebrate the program’s most recent graduates. And last week’s winter graduation was no exception.

On any given Sunday, Cheara fixes breakfast for his family while his wife rallies their kids together for church.

On the day Cheryl met up to share her story, classmates cheered for her from the schoolyard as if she were leaving for some big Hollywood movie premiere.

Having struggled in the past, Julia’s top priority is to make sure her kids make better choices than she did. 

During the school year, Helga’s grandkids attend the ECS OST program in Feltonville. “My day is never done,” Helga said. “If it wasn’t for the program and the school ... I’d go crazy. No breaks. Some days I say I wish I could get [rest].” But when you’re the beating heart of your family, rest is scarce.

One of their favorite things to give is their time – this year, through the Fill the Bus campaign, our annual back-to-school drive which gathers backpacks and classroom essentials for students in ECS program participants.

“A lot of it I did not understand, and I felt like I was lost,” he said. “I really didn’t know what to do. I had to grow up. 

Support in ECS often spans generations.

He had been working as a groundskeeper for a real estate owner, and in return for the work, they lived in one of the properties.