Sunday, November 08, 2009
Search
Blogs
HiLife Online 
Reader Poll
Most Read
- Educators accused of unethical conduct
- Desperate times at Aloha Stadium
- Case of baby who died in Customs heads to trial after failure to settle
- Communication gaffe raises fuss in chief selection
- Retailers on guard as crooks ram vehicles into properties
- Hawaii busts up Utah State 49-36
- Amis out indefinitely for UH men's basketball
- Feeding frenzy for UH backs
- Access justice
- Calls for tax hike piling on reluctant lawmakers
- Symphony cancels concerts and will downsize
GOOD NEIGHBOR FUND: LISA MORENO
Mom of 5 getting life back on track
POSTED: 01:30 a.m. HST, Nov 30, 2008
Lisa Moreno can't shake the memory of being homeless or living in a bug-infested canal trench with her five children.
"Every time I walk past the Institute of Human Services, I remember what it was like to be there (homeless)," said Moreno, a former drug addict and victim of domestic violence. "When I get to my job, I know I have to strive, that I have to make things better. Living on the street is something I never want to go back to."
The Community Clearinghouse offers an Adopt-A-Family program every Christmas to help families like Moreno's who are traveling a rough road. The Star-Bulletin is aiding the effort through its annual Good Neighbor Fund.
Several years ago, Moreno and her family lost their home because Moreno was addicted to ice (crystal methamphetamine).
"I was literally in a black tunnel," she said. "My brain wasn't there."
They lived on the beach and in their van. They spent two years camping out in the canal, using the bushes as their toilet. Moreno's kids - the youngest was 11 at the time - each had to fill jugs at a nearby park and carry them back to their tent every night to take a shower.
Also every night, they had to clear their tent of the scorpions, centipedes, roaches and "cane spiders as big as your hand" before they could go to sleep, she said. Quite often, "we'd have to try and sleep staring at the (guts) of the spider they just squashed sticking to the tent," Moreno said.
The family verged on starvation, each of them having only "one sandwich a day for the whole day, with maybe some chips, and we'd share a soda," she said. When someone remarked that her children looked so small and undernourished, it finally struck Moreno: "Oh my God, what have I done?"
That encounter finally made Moreno call the state Child Protective Services agency for help. She gave up her children to a friend and checked herself into a recovery program for a year. The family was reunited when they moved into Onemalu Transitional Shelter in 2007.
"Now that we are here at Onemalu, we are so very happy and grateful," and she is thrilled be working at Kmart in a permanent, full-time job since 2006 - "My first job ever!" she said.
"I'm doing good and my kids are proud of me. It's what makes me keep going," she said. In spite of the deprivation they suffered, her kids "watched over me; they never left my side," Moreno added.
"I'm not ashamed of it (what she was) now. That was someone else before. ... My whole thinking, my feelings, my emotions have changed. But it still doesn't excuse what I put my kids through," she said.
"I'm surviving by the skin of my teeth. ... But we're moving forward. And we never forget where we came from," she said.
The family is sleeping on pillows that are very old, and they don't have any blankets. They also could use some bed linen and, as always, food.
Lisa Moreno can't shake the memory of being homeless or living in a bug-infested canal trench with her five children.
"Every time I walk past the Institute of Human Services, I remember what it was like to be there (homeless)," said Moreno, a former drug addict and victim of domestic violence. "When I get to my job, I know I have to strive, that I have to make things better. Living on the street is something I never want to go back to."
The Community Clearinghouse offers an Adopt-A-Family program every Christmas to help families like Moreno's who are traveling a rough road. The Star-Bulletin is aiding the effort through its annual Good Neighbor Fund.
Several years ago, Moreno and her family lost their home because Moreno was addicted to ice (crystal methamphetamine).
"I was literally in a black tunnel," she said. "My brain wasn't there."
They lived on the beach and in their van. They spent two years camping out in the canal, using the bushes as their toilet. Moreno's kids - the youngest was 11 at the time - each had to fill jugs at a nearby park and carry them back to their tent every night to take a shower.
Also every night, they had to clear their tent of the scorpions, centipedes, roaches and "cane spiders as big as your hand" before they could go to sleep, she said. Quite often, "we'd have to try and sleep staring at the (guts) of the spider they just squashed sticking to the tent," Moreno said.
The family verged on starvation, each of them having only "one sandwich a day for the whole day, with maybe some chips, and we'd share a soda," she said. When someone remarked that her children looked so small and undernourished, it finally struck Moreno: "Oh my God, what have I done?"
That encounter finally made Moreno call the state Child Protective Services agency for help. She gave up her children to a friend and checked herself into a recovery program for a year. The family was reunited when they moved into Onemalu Transitional Shelter in 2007.
"Now that we are here at Onemalu, we are so very happy and grateful," and she is thrilled be working at Kmart in a permanent, full-time job since 2006 - "My first job ever!" she said.
"I'm doing good and my kids are proud of me. It's what makes me keep going," she said. In spite of the deprivation they suffered, her kids "watched over me; they never left my side," Moreno added.
"I'm not ashamed of it (what she was) now. That was someone else before. ... My whole thinking, my feelings, my emotions have changed. But it still doesn't excuse what I put my kids through," she said.
"I'm surviving by the skin of my teeth. ... But we're moving forward. And we never forget where we came from," she said.
The family is sleeping on pillows that are very old, and they don't have any blankets. They also could use some bed linen and, as always, food.
Today’s Edition
- Damien celebrations draw to a close
- Calls for tax hike piling on reluctant lawmaker
- Retailers on guard as crooks ram vehicles into properties
- County pandemic plans to apply to overall state response strategy
- State welfare payouts drop as numbers of needy grow
- Earlier primary voting considered
- Whatever Happened To: Case of baby who died in Customs heads to trial after failure to settle
- Newswatch
- Police and Fire
- Shining Stars
- Vital Statistics
- What's open and closed on Veterans Day
- Trouble in Paradise
- Windfall is seen as bank bonuses are paid in stock
- Overweight Americans push back in the health care debate
- Handmade: Make your presence felt with 'Felties'
- Drawing attention
- Da Kine
- Scrivener's Sudoku: Army Community Hawaii
- Murakami's Calabash
- Warriors find winning formula
- Feeding frenzy for UH backs
- Porous run defense deflates Utah State
- Short snaps: UH vs. Utah State
- Further Review: Old-school running game keyed UH's feel-good win
- Amis out indefinitely with foot injury
- UH's Lee lifts Hawaii's spirit
- Farrington finds a way
- 'Iolani rolls Damien to prepare for states
- Hawaii Beat
- Scoreboard
- Television & Radio
- New kite business takes off
- Business briefs
- It's not too late to cut tax liability
- Hawaii Real Estate Sales
- Tracking Hawaii's student stock pickers
insideStarBulletin.com
