After spending more than 13 years as an expatriate in Illinois, Tracy Ryan reunited with her native Texas roots and joined the SAMMinistries Leadership Team in late 2011 as the Director of Information Technology.  Bringing a multitude of experience to the table, she leads the IT services team for SAMMinistries’ three campuses.   

Before joining SAMMinistries, Tracy served as Director of Networking for the largest family owned jeweler in the nation.   She also owned her own IT consulting company where she focused on filling the technology gap for businesses of all sizes.  

Tracy graduated from the University of Texas at San Antonio (UTSA) with a Bachelor of Science degree in Computer Science.

Her life as an Executive Assistant to a Senior Vice-President of a Fortune 500 company was great, but Chanel has learned that life’s situations can change quickly.

She was promoted and relocated to San Antonio in 2007 with the company which she had worked for eight years. She thought her husband made the move with her. But, after three weeks, he announced that he had never had any intention of moving; left  and filed for divorce, leaving Chanel to go through these transitions on her own in a new city.

Chanel was obligated to her employer because of her relocation and did not miss a beat! She worked hard for the next two years until the restructuring of the company left her without a boss and then her $50,000 job was gone!

She sincerely thought that she would be given her job back when things settled down at the company, but that did not happen.  A practical and professional woman, Chanel was wise in handling her money.  However, after the divorce and months of unemployment, her funds were depleting. She had already canceled all of the things that had once been ‘normal’ for her; insurance, credit cards, phone, but it wasn’t enough. She could no longer pay the utility bills she had once paid for before their due dates and services were disconnected.

Pride kept her from asking friends and family for help—she had always been the one that had it together and did well in life. Sadly, when she did get the courage to ask for help, people she thought were her friends turned their backs on her. Chanel’s faith shines through when she talks about how she has forgiven them, but knows she can no longer count them as friends.

Chanel had hit rock bottom. “I never thought I would ever have to worry about food. I was humbled and thankful for whatever I had—even when it was just a loaf of bread!” Desperate and unsure what to do, Chanel called United Way and was referred to SAMMinistries.  After listening to Chanel and assessing her situation, there was very little that could have been done at that point, but to go to a homeless shelter and start over!

While she was at the shelter, she found work for a non-profit cleaning toilets for a group home and working at a retirement center. This steady income gave her enough money to get her own apartment. Soon she received a job offer from another large company for an even better job than the one that had brought her to San Antonio! A larger salary
and excellent benefit package gave her reason to celebrate and be hopeful again. She was back on her feet and her hard times were behind her—at least that is what she thought! Three months later, as layoffs hit her new company, the last hired were the first to go and that included Chanel! But this time, she knew her life situation was not one of which to be ashamed, “It can happen to anyone in any walk of life.  All it takes is to lose your job and your money runs out.”

In fact, Chanel saw herself as stronger and wiser; she was determined that she was not going to be homeless again. “It’s so easy to slip into poverty and not have the fight. But this time I felt like a mighty eagle with a positive attitude, fearless spirit and one who makes wise decisions.”

She signed up with a staffing agency and received a contract to work for CPS which was to begin in a few weeks.  In the meantime,  bills needed to be paid. She was honest with her landlord, who would work with her as best he could, but she needed help.  This time she wasn’t going to wait until it was too late to ask! She called SAMMinistries Homeless Prevention Services and received the assistance she needed to stay in her apartment and start her new job burden free! “I am at peace. Thank you for sowing a seed in my life. Because of you, I am able to walk with a smile!”

When asked if there was a message she wanted to give to our readers, as a professional woman who has gone from a high-paying job to cleaning toilets, she spoke from her heart, “I am so thankful for what I have and prayerfully ask that you, please, keep giving money, food, clothing to the organizations that help people.  I say with great joy that the staff at SAMMinistries made a wonderful difference in my life. They were compassionate, understanding and helped me beyond my expectations. But . . . I know they cannot do it alone.“

Chanel looks forward to working her way into a permanent position with CPS as she lives her life according to Romans 4:17, “Calleth those things which be not as though they were.”  A stronger and more grateful woman, she is definitely expecting good things in her future and we know they will come her way!

SAMMinistries has developed a Homeless Prevention Program to provide hope to families and individuals by preventing them from entering homelessness. SAMMinistries Homeless Prevention Services Program provides rental assistance, utility assistance and supportive services to enable individuals and families who are in imminent danger of eviction, or are currently homeless. SAMMinistries works with the homeless by cutting the amount of time a family experiences homelessness and rapidly re-housing families into permanent homes.

Supportive services must directly relate to the prevention of homelessness and rapid re-housing. These services are provided in an effort to stabilize families in their existing homes, shorten the amount of time that individuals and families stay in shelters, and assist individuals and families with securing affordable housing. The households must document a temporary economic crisis beyond their control, by giving evidence of at least one of the following conditions:

It has been ten years since the Benn family first came thru the doors of SAMMinistries’ Transitional Living and Learning Center (TLLC) and a lot has changed! Today Diane and her kids, Samantha, Jacob and Drew want to be an encouragement to people who are in the same shoes they walked in a decade ago.

Diane is now looking forward to teaching GED classes and they all want to share their stories with our residents. However, this isn’t the first time the Benn’s have given back to SAMMinistries. Jacob, an accomplished cross country runner, organized two Aztec Trek 5K Runs to benefit SAMMinistries while he was still in high school.

When Diane came back to TLLC, Samantha, a recent
honors graduate from Texas State University, was working and disappointed that she could not make the visit. However, Jacob and Drew were able to come along with Diane, eager to see their “old home”.

Samantha was in middle school, Jacob was in 4th grade and Drew hadn’t quite arrived when Diane found herself without a place to live.  At 8.5 months pregnant, this mother of two came home one day to find her money gone, along with everything else in the apartment she had been sharing with “friends”.

At the time, she was working as a substitute teacher and attending San Antonio College (SAC) mortuary science
program. Now, with no money and no roommates, she could not afford a place for herself and children.  The family found temporary shelter with her cousin and a friend, but she wanted to stand on her own two feet and not be a burden to others.

As a working mom, SAMMinistries’ Transitional Program was the perfect fit for her and her children. Two weeks after moving into TLLC, Diane gave birth to Drew.  However, this did not deter her from accomplishing her goals. She graduated from the mortuary science program in May and immediately began working full-time at a local funeral home.

With her success in our program, the Benn family moved up to one of our transitional homes. It was then that she realized she missed teaching—it was her passion. So, she started going to UTSA full-time to earn her degree to become a bilingual teacher.  Working full-time, going to school full-time and raising three kids wasn’t easy.

“There were times I wanted to give up, but then I would look at my children and had faith God would provide for us.  I want to thank you all for giving so we could live at TLLC.  We wouldn’t be where we are now if it weren’t for you. ”

The next two years brought lots of changes: a bachelor’s degree, a graduation from our Transitional Program, and a new career working as a teacher for the San Antonio Independent School District. Not one to rest on her laurels, Diane kept working toward her biggest goal—home ownership. Her face lit up when she proudly announced that, in 2008, she became the proud owner of her own home!

A firm believer in setting goals, Diane has high expectations for her children, but does not have to worry about them—they are goal setters, too! Samantha is beginning her master’s degree program in social work in the fall with hopes of helping people through their difficult times. Jacob is attending Oklahoma State University on a cross country scholarship, where he will be a part of the National Championship Team.  His goal is to be on the 2016 Olympic Cross Country Team—be watching for him! The youngest child, Drew, wants to be a professional football player, but he is just 10 years old!

Looking at her now, you would have never known that she had once been a homeless mom. But then she says there will be a lot of people who will be surprised to read she was homeless, including some family members.

“When I was living here [TLLC] no one knew I was homeless.  I as always happy . . . no one could tell. Some people think that a homeless person is a person on the street begging, but that didn’t define me.  It just shows that you can’t really put a face on homelessness.”

Diane’s not done yet! Currently she is working on her next goal—a master’s degree in Educational Leadership! Now she has her sights set on becoming a professor in bilingual adult education.  We have no doubt that there is nothing she can’t do!