Success Stories - Dennis

Dennis hasn’t had it easy. He, in his own words, “used drugs in the worst way.” The effects of the drug abuse were far-reaching. His addiction to drugs led him to criminal activity and his daughter was taken away and put into the state’s care. 18 months ago, he realized his life had become unmanageable.

He knew he needed to get his life together or risk never seeing his daughter again. He went looking for help. He started a 12 step program which he still participates in today. He worked with local service providers to find a job and began getting his life in order, hoping to create opportunities for himself and prove to the state’s child welfare department that he was fit to resume his parenting duties.

Despite having a job, Dennis couldn’t find housing, a critical component to having his daughter returned to him. His criminal record prevented him from qualifying for low-income housing. He was also denied access to Section 8 vouchers for the same reason.

Dennis had heard Impact Northwest helped people who needed affordable housing, so he set up an appointment to meet with one of Impact Northwest’s advocates to determine if we could help him with this critical component to his life’s success. Dennis’ advocate learned about his past struggles and the tremendous effort he was making to remain sober and regain custody of his little girl. His advocate helped him appeal the Section 8 decision and accompanied him to the hearing on his appeal. According to Dennis “…there was no other place that could help me, and then I found Impact Northwest and they gave me a chance.”

Dennis regained custody of his daughter. They are settled in permanent housing where she has a room of her own and is really happy. Dennis is working to get her into preschool so he can help her lay the groundwork for a good education. He admits that it’s a struggle to keep it all together, but he’s continuing to succeed. Dennis would like to “…thank everyone for all the help and support. With all the support I’ve received, I’m in a real good place.”

Dennis is one of the 60,000 low-income children, youth, families, adults with disabilities, and seniors we serve on a yearly basis. Through his own hard work and the Community of Support provided by Impact Northwest and partner agencies, Dennis is achieving success for himself and his daughter. If you would like to support Dennis and thousands of other individuals and families throughout the greater Portland metro area who benefit from Impact Northwest’s work, please click here to make a charitable contribution.