Twenty-six-year-old mother of two Whitney Shaw once found herself attempting to jump off bridges. But now she’s rebuilding them, getting her life back on track at the Lee and Krystyna Jamieson Recovery Home for Women and Children.
Since 2019 she has been rehabilitating after battling substance abuse and attempts to end her own life.
“Every time I would try, something in me would cry out, and I just didn’t go forward with that, and I thank God that I didn’t because my life is unfolding before me,” she said.
This is not the first time she has gone through the program. She came once in 2016 and then again in 2018. But the “third time’s the charm," she said.
"Having my kids, they give me a reason to want to live. For me to give them a better life. Just because I didn’t have one, I believe they deserve a better one. I want to break the cycle now,” she said.
Once her program ends, Shaw wants to enroll in school, get a job, a car, and go to church regularly. For now, she'll be spending Thanksgiving at the mission this year with her one-and-a-half-year-old son, Hastin.
“I’m looking forward to seeing my one year old eat his first Thanksgiving meal and getting a mess everywhere."
And while she won’t be going home to her family in Texas, where her other son, Tracy III resides, she will be FaceTiming with him for the holiday, in a state of peace and stability that she was not in before
You can donate to The Mission at Kern County directly here. You can also find a full list of things to donate at our 23ABC Bakersfield Baby Shower here.
