A few days ago, I was on the bus, when a lady sat beside me.

Immersed in my book of the week, I didn’t bother to look up or around. After about two stops she started talking to me, so I put the hook away and focused on her.

She was in her early 40s and was dressed beautifully. Obviously an executive type, I thought to myself. But an executive -type that takes public transport? Interesting...

As the conversation progressed, we shared some personal information, she found out that I attended a Salvation Army church and she began volunteering information about herself.

This is her story.

Many years ago, her husband had done a ‘runner’ with the bank balance, leaving her alone with a pile of debts. Her girls were both under 10 and only had a vague idea of how life was about to change for them. Being a stay-at-home mom and out of the workplace for 10 years, it was difficult for her to find a job where she would be able to support herself and the girls. It was going to be a huge adjustment for all three of them.

It was three months before she was able to find work; a minimum-wage job that required long hours and endless patience. Soon she was facing an eviction notice and threats from utility companies. Eventually, as the bills mounted, they wound up sleeping in her car, going from parking lot to parking lot, hoping to avoid notice.

They lived in their car for months. At night she’d hear her girls’ teeth chatter, and knowing she couldn’t turn on the car heater because they did not have gas money, broke her heart.

Depressed and miserable, she was downtown handing out her resume when a man in uniform stopped her, asking it she wanted a cup of coffee. She reluctantly accepted, having been brought up not to accept charity. Around her were others whose circumstances were not much different from hers. As they sat and drank their coffee he told her of the different programs offered by The Salvation Army and who she could call to help get her family back on their feet.

She had never found out the man’s name but she never forgot him. That year, she went to The Salvation Army and got a Christmas hamper and was able to at least give her girls something.

I was so caught up in her story I missed my bus stop.

Not in a hurry to get home and curious as to how this story turned out, I stayed to ask her how they were doing now. Both her girls are in college and she has her own business.

I thought this was so cool, on the way home (round two) I was thinking about the Salvation Army and the lives it touches, and how a simple cup of coffee and a kind word may not seem like much, but it was enough to change the life of a family.

by Tamara Molleson

Reprinted with permission from The Calgary Sun