Finding faith: People experiencing homelessness graduate from Dallas support program

Amanda Steggall, 45, stood in black regalia in a packed room at Dallas Life, a faith-based shelter for unhoused people. She described the anger she felt when she and her two kids lost their housing and ended up at the shelter.

“I felt like there was just no hope,” Steggall said. “And there was just no getting out of it.”

When she found Dallas Life, Steggall said, it was hard for her family to be around so many other people and have to attend classes and stick to curfews and schedules. But eventually, the mother said, she found a job, a support system and a faith that guides her.

On Monday, friends and family of 11 graduates clapped and cheered when the black-robbed cohort held diplomas to their chests. Graduates moved their black tassels with a ’24 charm across their caps.

At any given time, about 100 people participate in the Homeless No More program, which holds several graduations throughout the year.

In about 10 months, Dallas Life’s faith-based Homeless No More recovery program teaches financial literacy, anger management and job-readiness skills to people who have lost their housing and relationships and need extra support.

Graduates are able to secure permanent housing and employment, a path toward re-entering society that looks different for each individual.

Mary Ann Sweeney, the director of the Homeless No More program, told the crowd of about 100 staff members, family and friends that she was proud of the graduates’ journey to overcome past fears and crises.

“God has been so faithful to each one of these graduates,” Mary Ann said. “God is the one who got them to this point. He’s the one that walked side by side. He’s the one who gave him the strength and the courage to stand firm and to follow through to the end.”

The Rev. Bob Sweeney, Dallas Life’s executive director and Mary Ann’s husband, designed the program that’s divided into four phases. The first three phases require participants to remain inside the shelter’s facilities, located near the Cedars neighborhood south of downtown.

Dallas Life, which started housing people in 1954, helps hundreds of men and women focus on their recovery with practical budgeting skills and spiritual healing that aim to repair relationships, Bob Sweeney said.

The faith leader said successful homelessness recovery programs give a person expectations and accountability. “You must have skin in the game,” Sweeney said. “You have to put your best foot forward toward recovery. I want them to walk in the door knowing it took a while to become whole.”

Steggall lived at Dallas Life with her 14-year-old daughter and 6-year-old son, while her oldest, a 17-year-old son, lived with his dad in Idaho.

“It was hard on them being here at first,” Steggall said. “But just seeing all the struggles that we went through, I know we did it together.”

Steggall said her kids motivated her each day to find a path to stability. Now she works at Haystack, a burger restaurant in University Park, and is finalizing her housing. She and another mother who graduated from the program are searching for housing options as roommates.

“I had to do better for them,” Steggall said. “And, yeah, I think they’re very proud of their mom, and I think it means a lot for them to see me follow through and do something knowing that it was not just for them but for me, too.”

Ronnie Lee Owens, 58, had mixed emotions after graduating from the program. He’s excited to start a new chapter of his personal health, which improved over the past year he’s lived at Dallas Life, which he calls his safe haven.

After developing kidney disease, Owens said, he couldn’t work anymore and eventually lost his little red house, his truck and motorcycle. “I’m starting over again from scratch,” Owens said. “When your health goes bad like that, it’s out of your control.”

After the graduation ceremony, Aleisha Sanders, 44, celebrated with her son, daughter and granddaughter with hugs and cupcakes. Sanders said finishing the program felt like “getting a monkey off her back.”

Although she works in child care full-time these days, Sanders said she wants to put her cosmetology license and skills to work again. “I want to go back to a salon … working for someone and learning what’s news because I’ve been out for a couple of years,” Sanders said.

Sanders and her family live in a home in Mesquite. Her 1-year-old granddaughter, Bleu, has never known a stable home.

“For her whole life, we have been homeless,” Sanders said. “We lived in extended stays. We lived in the car until it got [repossessed]. Then we got into different shelters. It was a long, hard road.”