Mary's Place Success Stories

Komlan's Story

Komlan comes from a large family in Togo where financial security and support was not possible. With much debt and sacrifice he put himself through school. But after graduating could not find a job. The government is corrupt and the politics make everything very poor. He did national volunteering for 5 years hoping to secure a permanent stable job but unfortunately could not. For 10 years, he and his wife entered their family in the visa lottery to be able to leave their country to come to America with dreams of a better life. Finally, after 10 years of hoping and waiting, just he and their 2 children were picked by the lottery.

Komlan arrived to Virginia in February 2019 alone so to first establish himself with a job and an income to support their children. He stayed with a friend and within a few weeks, started his first job at Walmart pushing carts for $11/hour. Because immigration gave him a deadline to bring his children here, he only had 1.5 months to save enough money to buy himself a plane ticket back to Togo to get them and buy more plane tickets for them to fly back to America. He simply did not have enough time to make enough money he needed but thankfully someone borrowed him the money. He brought their children to America with one day left before their travel visas expired. As soon as they arrived back to Virgina, the friend he was staying with gave him a deadline to leave. One of his Togo friends knew someone in Minnesota so they journeyed here to start over.

(Pictured Above at their current home : Komlan, his wife Abra, & their children Bryant & Melissa)

In Minnesota, Komlan and the children moved in with his Togo friends’ acquaintance. He started working at the Roseville Walmart and was promoted to unloading trucks – he made $12/hour. His son Bryant was age 8 and in school. But his daughter Melissa was age 3 and not old enough for school and he did not have extra money to send her to daycare. Thankfully, the family they were staying with was able to watch the children in the afternoon/evening. So, Komlan would ride his bike to work in the afternoon and return home at midnight. After a few months, the family decided it was time for them to leave. Komlan became scared and stressed so went to the doctor for high blood pressure. And that is when the social worker at the clinic told him about Mary’s Place.

Komlan and the children moved into Mary’s Place with great relief – he says Mary Jo and Mary’s Place were the answers to their prayers. Komlan’s work schedule switched to 5:00am morning shift and thankfully he discovered he had a cousin in New Brighton willing to help him with the children. Every day, they woke up at 3:00am to get ready, a Lyft/Uber ride would pick them up at 4:00am, drop the children off at the cousin’s house, and drop Komlan off at work. But many times their ride would not show up so he was often late to work. Komlan worked until 4:00pm, would get a Lyft/Uber to take him to pick up the children, and they would then come home to Mary’s Place. Komlan would cook dinner, they would go to our Chapel to pray every evening, and they would go to bed at 7:00pm to get enough sleep. During this time, Komlan had to pay back the loan for their plane tickets, send money to his wife in Togo to help support her, pay an immigration lawyer to help get his wife here, pay his cousin for babysitting, and pay for basic necessities like food… All while only making $12/hour.

When Covid-19 started and everything was shutting down, Komlan unexpectedly had to quit his job to stay home with his son who was now distance learning. And because everyone was quarantined, he no longer had a babysitter for his daughter. He had no income so Mary Jo helped him each month with enough money for groceries. After many long months, when the children were finally able to return to school and a babysitter, Komlan found a new job working maintenance in the public school system for $15/hour. He found a new babysitter but still worked very early morning hours so their family resumed their old schedule of waking up at 3:00am for the day ahead. Komlan resumed making all his payments for his many responsibilities. And for 3 months, Komlan started paying for driving lessons. He finally passed his driving test on the 4th try and after was able to buy a car.

During all of this, Komlan and the children joined a church, got baptized, and went to church every Sunday. His friend talked to the pastor about his situation and the pastor wanted to help Komlan and the children. He agreed to rent his basement to them and to officially sponsor Komlan’s wife so she could hopefully come here through immigration.

After 2 years of living at Mary’s Place, Komlan and the children were able to move out. The pastor became a father figure to Komlan. The pastor’s wife helped Komlan get Melissa on the school bus while he was at work. And finally his wife was approved to come to America to join their family.

Komlan’s wife, Abra, arrived to America in February 2023, exactly 4 years after Komlan himself first arrived here. Komlan is still working maintenance at the public schools and is now making $18/hour. He starts college this fall to become a pastor. The children are exceling – they now attend a private Christian school – Bryant gets great grades, Melissa enjoys Art, and both love bike riding together. Abra is taking English classes each week to learn the language and is also pregnant – the children are overjoyed for a new sibling.

Komlan says, “Mary Jo and Mary’s Place were the answers to our prayers. She gave us more than we ever could have expected. She is full of hope and love and gave us a chance when we had nowhere to go. She supported us emotionally, financially, psychologically, and spiritually. I am so overwhelmed by her kindness. Parts of these last few years have been very lonely and sad – I missed my wife, the children missed their mother, and I did my best to make them feel safe. At Mary’s Place, we experienced a perfect peace of mind, and became so full with hope and joy. I will always remember us going to her Chapel every night to pray and thank God and ask Him for the strength we needed – we prayed there every night before going to bed. Before, this life we now have was just a dream – but now we are LIVING it! We will never forget the impact Mary Jo and Mary’s Place had on our lives. Our daily prayer for her is that God continues to bless her!”

Kiera and Linda's Story

Linda and Kiera are mother and adult daughter, living together, and raising Kiera’s two children Temple (age 9) and Keylan (7), and Linda’s other grandson Darren (4). Between Linda getting let go from her 14-year service associate position, losing their house to foreclosure, and filing for bankruptcy, Linda and Kiera quickly found themselves out of money, homeless, and with no place to go.

They decided to come see Mary Jo at Sharing and Caring Hands and ask if she would be willing to shelter them. Linda says, “Mary Jo opened her arms and heart to us. She took us in, gave us a comfortable room, and helped us with the personal items we needed. And on top of all of that, she gave Temple, Keylan, and Darren each a stuffed animal to make them feel more at ease - that really touched my heart.”

Sabria's Story

Sabria is a single mother of four children: Fatumo (age 12), Haney (10), Hawa (8), and Nuur (6). Haney and Nuur were born blind, with a serious skin disease where sunlight exposure is extremely dangerous and harmful. In order to best protect these two, Sabria and the other children have become used to living in the dark, with the blinds shut, and light bulbs turned off.

When Sabria moved her family to Minnesota for better medical resources, she was taking a risk - she had nothing - no extra money and no place to go. She found herself at the doorstep of Sharing and Caring Hands because she had heard she could try asking Mary Jo for help. She says, “I will always remember the day I met Mary Jo. She did not know me or my children, but she listened to my story, and warmly welcomed my family. Without hesitation, she immediately gave us what we desperately needed most - a roof over our heads and a place to call home.”