Waterbury Salvation Army shelter helps mom reunite with children
by: Mackenzie Maynard Posted: Oct 20, 2021 / 04:42 PM EDT / Updated: Oct 21, 2021 / 12:23 PM EDT
(WTNH) – Thursday is the Day of Giving. News 8 has teamed up with The Salvation Army to show you stories of success. For many who come to the Salvation Army, they’re in need of assistance, but they leave with so much more.
Carmen Vargas has been at the Waterbury Family Shelter since last December. Her house was burned in a fire in 2018. Since then, she was couch-surfing and staying anywhere she could.
Sofia Swaby is the housing program coordinator helping these families find housing, jobs, and childcare.
“They have become my family,” said Carmen Vargas.
For Vargas, it hasn’t been an easy road.
“I’ve gone through a lot here and without them, I don’t know where I would be,” Vargas said.
Vargas is a mother of three, but since being in the shelter, her twins have been staying with their aunt. After almost a year at the shelter, Vargas is just days away from moving into her own apartment.
“Like I finally got it. I finally got my light at the end of the tunnel. I finally got my rainbow,” Vargas said.
An organization helping find light in the dark days.
“And some days are really hard and there are days that we don’t know how we’re going to help everybody because there’s so many challenges and so many bears, but then we have an October 20 and Carmen and her children are uniting and we’re like, ‘oh, that’s why we do what we do,’” Swaby said.
For more information about The Salvation Army’s Day of Giving, click here.