Before coming to the Mission, Ashley hadn’t seen her son for eight years.
Not for his birthday.
Not for Thanksgiving.
Not for Christmas.
In fact, while she was on the streets and trapped in addiction, she didn’t celebrate any of those things. She couldn’t. She didn’t even realize what day it was.
There’s No Christmas on the Streets
“We didn’t even know if it was Christmas,” she remembers. “We’re just walking around, like, ‘Why are all the stores closed?’” Then Ashley came to the Mission and had a real holiday experience for the first time in years.
