November 1, 2016- Orange County Register
Ronda Gordon still finds it hard to believe her family has a place to call home.
After 11 years of bouncing around with her husband, Harry, and two kids, living in a tent, motels and the family’s SUV, just a week ago the Gordons settled into a two-bedroom, one-bathroom apartment in a new housing development near Lincoln Elementary School.
“Everything is still so new for us,” Gordon, a 49-year-old who lives with epilepsy, said while sitting in her apartment. Aside from the furnishings that were provided, the walls are bare. A bowl of fruit decorates the kitchen counter and a fan whirls nearby.
“I can’t believe I have a kitchen,” she said. “Even just waking up next to my husband in a separate room without the kids is a new experience.”
“Not that we didn’t mind being with the kids, sleeping inside the car,” said Harry Gordon, 51, who lost his job 11 years ago after suffering a serious workplace accident. “Here, our eyes are wide open. When I first walked in, I was like, 'Whoa! We have all this space.’
“This is all so new,” he said. “We’ve gone through so much, but we’ve stuck together as a family and stayed strong.”