From Hotel Rooms to a Home of Her Own
Every parent asks themselves some version of the same question: is this the best place to raise my children?
For Selena, the answer kept coming back the same way. She knew crime existed everywhere, but in her New York neighborhood, there was far more crime than there was opportunity.
The question stopped being theoretical two weeks before she moved her family to South Carolina. A 14-year-old was killed just around the corner from the house where she and her children were living.
"We never knew what the day was going to bring," she said.
New York would always be home, but she realized home didn't have to mean forever. She'd always felt pulled toward the South — she just hadn't had the courage to act on it.
Then her job fell apart. Instead of reading it as bad luck, she read it as a door opening.
"This is a sign," she remembers thinking. "God will lead me to it. He's not going to let it fix — He's going to let it crumble."
And it did crumble. That's when she decided this was her opportunity — no family, no friends waiting in South Carolina. Just a decision, and a direction.
A rough landing
Life was unsteady once they arrived. Selena and her children moved from hotel room to hotel room, trying to get their footing. A local church helped cover a week's stay and connected her family to Toby's Place. Her kids' school pitched in too, sending clothes, shoes, and food.
Even with a roof over their heads, the transition took time.
"The mom in me was like, I shouldn't be here. Why am I here," she recalled. "I didn't know God truly at the time. I didn't know why I was here. I was very lost."
Toby's Place was kind and welcoming, but Selena was struggling internally — trying to swallow her pride and make sense of how she'd ended up there. "There were a lot of rules, and in my head, I was like, I'm an adult. You're not going to tell me what to do."
Rebuild
Things started to shift. Selena remembers sitting in her room, crying for hours, filling notepads with plans for how to get out faster. Slowly, she began to understand that getting out wasn't the point — something had to change within her first.
"He was like, listen, you have to humble yourself. You wanted a fresh start. I took everything away from you. Rebuild," she remembers Him telling her.
And that's exactly what Toby's Place gave her and her family: the means — spiritually, physically, and structurally — to rebuild their lives.
After attending church with a fellow resident, she knew she'd found her church home. "When the kids told me they absolutely love it, that was the gold point for me." From there, the family got plugged into church, and eventually Selena made the decision to be baptized — with her children watching.
"I got to do that in front of the kids, and they were super excited," she beamed.
Full circle
Today, Selena has a stable job and stable housing — two things that once felt out of reach. Her employer helped her secure a grant toward the down payment and first month's rent on her first home, and invested in her professional growth by putting her through a course that made her a certified financial counselor.
Her children are thriving too. Her son graduated at the top of his elementary school class, served as president of the National Beta Club, and became a top performer on his basketball team. Her daughter became the first third grader at her school to make the dance team, and after receiving support for a visual issue affecting her schoolwork, has made significant progress.
"It feels really good to be able to have a full circle moment," Selena said.
Now she's thinking beyond what God has done for her family — she's thinking about how to pour that same investment into someone else. The woman who once filled notebooks with plans to leave Toby's Place as fast as possible now wants to help other women make the most of the opportunity she was given.
"If I had to say anything to the donors or the investors of Toby's Place, I would honestly let them know: your funds are going to a great cause. You're helping people like me — moms who don't have assistance from the government or from family or close friends. You're providing us a new life."
