Jennifer

During her five years in supportive housing, Jennifer Shear had plenty of opportunities to fall apart.

Her daughter had Tourette’s syndrome, OCD and spinal cord surgery. Her son had Tourette’s, ADHD and surgery to remove a lymph node. She herself had lupus. To treat their special needs, Jennifer and her husband drove the children some 70 miles to a hospital in Syracuse. Some of these visits lasted for weeks, which meant missed work and ever-mounting debt.

Jennifer avoided a mental meltdown, time and time again, thanks to the housing assistance and support she received from Neighbors of Watertown.

“Anytime I needed to cry or be upset or just have someone to talk to, I called them,” she says. “Someone would come right to my house and speak with me. They made me feel like I could handle it all. I wouldn’t be where I am today if I’d been living anywhere else. Without that support system, you fall between the cracks.”

Facing eviction, Jennifer and her family moved into supportive housing in 2005, providing permanent, affordable housing, emotional encouragement and a battery of support services. Among them, volunteers to drive her to her many hospital visits in Syracuse.

After five years with Neighbors of Watertown, the family was selected by Habitat for Humanity for a new home in April 2011. Above all, supportive housing allowed Jennifer to focus on her children. On one particular day, she recalls, the organization’s employees invited her son to help plant a tree for Arbor Day.

“To most people that sounds silly or not important,” she says, “but it is when you’re trying to raise your children a certain way -- to grow up to be a decent person.”

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