Jose
Jose Flores was born in Riverside and spent the first eight years of his life up and down California migrating with the different harvests. Soon after settling in Indio, Jose and his siblings went to live with their Grandmother, who gained custody after his parents abandoned them. He started getting into trouble and hanging out with the wrong crowd. Life was very difficult for Jose growing up.
“Reality hit me in the face when I became homeless for the first time.”
As a young adult, Jose was in and out of jail struggling with bouts of homelessness and addiction. After about 5 years of living on the streets, Jose turned his life around. He got a job, got married and had a child. Things in his life were going well, for a while… It all changed when Jose received news that a job he was excited about fell through. He became depressed and soon after lost his job, his home, and his family.
“I sat there thinking to myself, I need to change my life!”
Jose returned to living on the streets and was in and out of jail. He tried different programs but nothing seemed to work out for him. After one of his longer stints in jail, Jose decided he had enough and that it was time to make a change in his life.
“This is my second chance. I am going to complete the program… this is my goal.”
Jose entered Martha’s Village & Kitchen in January and has been working diligently on his program. Jose has shown remarkable fortitude during this time and has recently obtained employment. He is working on reaching his goals of graduating his programs and breaking his cycle of homelessness.