SHREVEPORT, La. - From homelessness and a life of drugs to now successful futures. Faith and Fostering is changing lives for young people across Northwest Louisiana.
“I felt the Holy Spirit and I felt the change just like break,” said Angel Swayze, 22.
She joined Faith and Fostering four months ago. The change began almost instantly.
“Interview lasted about probably an hour and a half and they were praying over me and after they prayed over me, like all my negativity, you know, like the bad thoughts I had it just, like, really went away and, I really changed from right there. I'm not the person I was when I first got here,” said Swayze.
Faith and Fostering is a nonprofit organization that evolved from the northwest Louisiana community pulling together to provide support for homeless young adults. It primarily focuses on youth aging out of the foster care system.
The program provides housing while the participants work on independent living plans and transition into adulthood. Faith and Fostering has grown so much in just a few short years with more transitional homes added, along with property where a F&F community will be created.
Before becoming involved in Faith & Fostering, Swayze's life was different and she was lost in her faith.
“I came from a long line of drugs. I used to be a drug addict,” said Swayze.
She was surrounded by drugs growing up.
“I end up just doing it and running away, going to foster care and stuff like that. I ran away from pretty much all my foster homes because I didn't feel that love, you know? It's like I know who my parents are and I had that rebellious side of me like, you don't want to help me, you just want the check, you know?” said Angel.
She ended up in jail. She applied to the Faith and Fostering program as a last hope.
Months later, Swayze says Faith and Fostering has taught her skills to one day live independently.
“One of the greatest areas I've seen with Angel, her identity change and her moving into a place of thriving instead of surviving,” said Solomon Waddles, Faith and Fostering housing coordinator.
Swayze is now about a year sober from hard drugs, has money saved for a car, and is about to go to school.
“I'm not the person I was when I first got here,” said Swayze.
But the transition took some getting used to, like adhering to a curfew.
“But once you get over that and you actually learn like, structure and discipline and things like that, it really humbles you. They're full of love and they're mentors. Everybody's a mentor, everybody's like family. They're very family oriented and it's beautiful. They're beautiful people and I can definitely feel like Jesus in them as well,” said Swayze.
For her, this program is just the beginning of her success.
As for Ashila Jacobs, another Faith and Fostering participant, she’s been in the program for about three years.She is now engaged and is a mother to her son, Zyheir.
Her life before the program was unstable.
“I came out of a situation where I didn't have a stable home, moving to different homeless places and stayed in an abandoned home, and I was in an abusive household, a verbally abusive household,” said Jacobs.
She says she lived like that for about four years before joining Faith and Fostering.
“I knew that Ashila, she’s really a sweet girl, just needed an opportunity. So, she was going through a few struggles, but she just needed somebody to just kind of push her into her destiny, her purpose,” said Shatorea Simmons, Faith and Fostering social services director.
“I just gained a lot more confidence. I've gained a voice; I've gained a family community that I can go to that listens. With the help of Faith and Fostering, I was able to get my first car. Now I do have my own apartment and I do plan to look into getting a house. And I have a really, really nice job that's keeping me where I'm at,” said Jacobs.
On top of her situation changing, her heart for the Lord changed as well.
“I guess I was just kind of floating around, just not really thinking about those type of things. Faith and Fostering introduced me to God and what really helped me grow is seeing the people here, they genuinely exude the love of God, and they show that they were the examples as to, you know, what I want to grow as in my faith,” said Jacobs.
Once she graduates, she still wants to be involved.
“It's definitely an assignment from the Lord. You know, he brings beautiful, wonderful people to us from very hard places and just watching how the Lord restores them through the process, there's just nothing else like it,” said Christi Robinson, Faith and Fostering executive director.
