Judy Simmons had just begun to relax in her quiet backyard when she noticed her 10-year-old son, James, swinging wildly from a branch of a nearby tree. At the same moment, his twin sister, Jala, scampered up another tree almost out of her mother’s view, but not quite. With a quick, “Jala, James, get down here!” they both came scurrying back to earth. Right now, it seems Judy’s biggest worry is keeping her kids firmly on solid ground.

Ten years ago, it was a much different story.

Her twins were just babies. Her husband was abusing cocaine. Drug dealers and gangs were a constant presence in their old neighborhood. For the sake of herself and her children, Judy had to change their living situation.

But with little money and few family or friends for support, Judy and her kids didn’t have anywhere to go. They wound up in a homeless shelter.

“I moved to get away from the gangs and the drugs. I just did what I had to do. I had two babies to take care of. I had to start a new life,” she recalled.

That new life was given a boost by the ROOF Project. Since 1995, Wilder and its partners in the ROOF Project have helped dozens of homeless families secure safe, affordable housing. Once the housing situation is stabilized, the ROOF staff then work with the families on issues such as employment, budgeting and child care. Judy, for example, received help dealing with her poor rental history and assistance finding furniture for her apartment, clothes for interviews and beds for her kids—anything a family starting over might need to become self-sufficient.

Ten years later, Judy is making it on her own just fine, but probably not quite in the way she might have envisioned. As a little girl, she probably never imagined she would grow up to work on a road crew, plowing snow during the winter and filling in potholes during the summer. But that’s just what she’s been doing for the past eight years. ROOF connected her with the job training program that led to her current position with the Minnesota Department of Transportation, and it’s that steady job that enabled her to buy her own home last year on Saint Paul’s east side.

“For me, ROOF was like having a family away from home. They didn’t just give me a list of things to do. They also gave me emotional support. They helped me prepare myself to make it on my own,” Judy said. “I wouldn’t still be talking ROOF up today if I didn’t believe in it.”