I left Hephzibah house without a blessing a few weeks after my 18th birthday, I had no high school diploma, no driver's license, 7 dollars in my pocket and nowhere to go.
As you know, they sent me to Toledo OH. At the bus stop I was practically lost! I was so confused and upset I could hardly say what my name was. The phone numbers Pastor Williams gave me were a joke! One place had been closed down for years and the other was the Salvation Army's refuge and it was for men only!
There was a security guard who helped me out a little. He referred me to a women's refuge that was for abused wives etc. They were really good to me there although getting there was quite and experience.
Walking across the city of Toledo in the middle of the night is a little less than appealing or safe. I spent the night there and the next day went to a travel agency there. I only had the seven dollars and that would not get me back to my hometown Norwalk so they sent me to the welfare department.
Red tape could have kept me there quite a while, but fortunately we found a short cut. They called my mother to get a Social Security number for some type of aid, but she was not home. I went to the library to try to look up phone numbers of anyone I remembered that might be able to help me. When I got back to the welfare office they called my mother again to no avail. We then tried the first number on my list of friends, the woman who had called the welfare on my mother in the first place leading to my being placed at Hephzibah House. This kind woman said she would be right up to pick me up within two hours I was on my way home!
I lived with this woman until I got married, it was the best time of my life! D was in her 40's but she spent hours talking to me and letting me talk and talk. She was really my strength during those months.
After I was married a couple months I got my GED, and then a few months after that my driver's license. I then went to college where my major was medical records. My new husband made good money so it was not necessary for me to work. I really didn't have the confidence it
took anyway.
Statement of Kim Long 1980- 1982
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