Looking Ahead: 21-year-old homeless mother dreams of having a home for her and her daughter by next Christmas

Samantha Smith pointed to the silver Christmas ornament that hangs from her bunk bed in a room at the Salvation Army shelter that she shares with her 10-month-old daughter, Alexis.

"That's about as far as we've gotten decorating," she said. "She rolled it around in the glitter glue and I wrote on it."

The ornament says, "Alexis, Christmas 2008."

For Smith, Christmas is a time to count her blessings and to hope for better things ahead. She came to the shelter two weeks ago, after she broke up with her boyfriend and had to move out. A photo of Alexis taken with Santa at Hanes Mall sits on a dresser. Alexis' playpen takes up a good part of the small room they share with another mother and her 12-year-old daughter.

"It's stressful," Smith said, "but I'm happy she has a roof over her head and people who care about her."

Families such as Smith's are becoming an increasing concern for local homeless advocates.

There are currently 18 families living at the shelter with a total of 28 children, said John Gladman, the assistant director of social services for the Salvation Army.

Project HOPE, which stands for Homeless Outreach Project in Education, estimates that there are 174 school-age children in the city/county school system who do not have permanent homes, and about 67 children in the pre-kindergarten age range.

The number of children who are homeless has risen 40 percent to 45 percent in the past year, said Connie Cupello, the administrative assistant for Project HOPE. The organization helps homeless children with everything from tutoring to providing clothing.

Children who are classified as homeless may live in a hotel, a shelter or with another family, Cupello said.

Smith said she doubts that anyone looking at her as she makes her daily rounds with Alexis suspects that she is homeless. And she said that she certainly isn't going to volunteer the information.

"They usually think of someone homeless as a bum on the street or a panhandler," she said. "When they look at me, they think, ‘average person.'"

She and Alexis visit a nearby grocery store for a snack once a day, Smith said, and when the weather is good, they go to the Salvation Army playground.

Alexis is a good baby who thrives on attention from the people at the shelter, Smith said.

"This place is more stable than any other place," she said.

Growing up with three siblings

Smith, 21, grew up in Lexington, in what she described as a "normal family." Her mother worked for a glass company until she became disabled from emphysema. She said that she is not in touch with her father. She grew up with two sisters and a brother who is handicapped.

One of her more memorable Christmases was when she was about 5 years old, Smith said. The family didn't have a Christmas tree, so her mother put a tree skirt over the television and hung ornaments from that.

"I remember thinking that was cool," Smith said.

She dropped out of high school in Dobson, Smith said, after she got into fights with people who picked on her disabled brother. She later received a GED in culinary arts from the Johnson Job Corps Civilian Conservation Center in Franklin.

She began working as a dishwasher, but left that job and had trouble finding other work, she said. She had been working at Unifi for a month when she got pregnant and had to leave her job because it involved heavy lifting.

Over the next few years, she bounced around to different living situations in Mocksville, Thomasville and Yadkinville, she said. Sometimes she stayed with people in her extended family or with a boyfriend. For a month she lived out of a Chrysler LeBaron. She stayed with one of her sisters for a couple of months and then her sister became homeless.

Alexis changed her life

Although she comes across as a pragmatic, down-to-earth young woman, Smith describes herself as a wild child who used drugs and who did things she is now ashamed of. Having Alexis changed her life for the better, Smith said.

"I did lots of horrible things," she said. "Now I have her, I want to be more moral. I read the Bible."

Alexis' father lives in Massachusetts and does not pay child support, Smith said. He has seen pictures of Alexis, but has never met her.

Being homeless is difficult for someone on his or her own, said Priscilla Cooke, a case manager for the Salvation Army. Families have an even tougher set of problems to overcome.

People who make minimum wage have trouble finding adequate daycare. Once they find daycare, finding and keeping a job is challenging. There are limited job openings downtown close to the shelter, so many people have to figure out how to take the bus, and even then, finding a job during a recession can be difficult.

"I think she tries to keep a positive outlook," Cooke said of Smith. "I haven't seen her down. This can be an extremely depressing situation."

It takes people such as Smith an average of six or seven months at the shelter before they have a job, daycare, transportation and enough savings to move out on their own.

Smith said that she would be meeting with someone soon about getting into the Work First program.

On Christmas Day, one of her sisters will pick up her and Alexis and take them to their mother's house in Thomasville.

But for Smith, the traditional visions of sugarplums have been replaced by visions of a stable life and a real home for her and Alexis, next Christmas.

"Hopefully, there's a tree and a home that we live in with nice furniture," she said. "And she has lots of presents that I bought her with my money."

■ Mary Giunca can be reached at 727-4089 or at mgiunca@wsjournal.com.