Thanks to Summit Church, Mother's Day came one day early for our Mom's in our Transitional Program. Close to 30 volunteers provided childcare and a day of pampering for our Moms.

While volunteers took care of their children, each Mom received a rose and gift bag full of lotions, toiletries and special things a mom would love! They also were treated with a serenade of "His Eye is on the Sparrow", an inspiring message of love, a wonderful lunch and Mother's Day cake. However, the biggest hit of the day was the pampering corner.

A massage therapist brought her crew and they provided back, neck and hand massages for all of the ladies! Each one thoroughly enjoyed this day to relax as they received a break from the day-to-day stress they experience as moms in extraordinary circumstances.

Smiles filled the room and "Praise God!" could be heard all afternoon as these wonderful servants truly gave their hands and feet in service! Thank you to all of the women, men and teens from Summit Church who helped our Mom's feel special!

Teen Room Hosts

SAMMinistries is in need of two volunteers to spend time monitoring the Teen Room on evenings and weekends. The  teens that stay at our shelter are a very special group of kids that need some time to just hang out. Come spend an evening or a few hours on the weekend building relationships. We need you to help check out video games, watch a movie, or play an exciting game of air hockey or foosball with the kids.

When: Mon-Fri 6:30-9:00pm     Sat and Sun: 1:00-4:00pm and 6:30-9:00pm

Where: Teen Room at Haven for Hope campus- 1 Haven for Hope Way

Requirements: All volunteers must complete a SAMMinistries Volunteer Application. Volunteers will receive a Haven for Hope volunteer badge which acts as a key to the activity rooms.

For more information, call 210-321-5647 or email This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

To view other Volunteer Opportunities-CLICK HERE!

• On-Going Needs:

  High demand items-we always need these things on hand!
  
  
  • Pillows
  • Blankets
  • Twin sheet sets
  • Full sheet sets
  • Baby diapers (especially sizes 4, 5, and 6)
  • Adult diapers
  • Feminine hygiene products
  • Toiletry products (shampoo, conditioner, deodorant, razors, shaving cream, toothpaste, toothbrushes, lotion, etc.)

For a complete list of on-going needs in pdf form, please CLICK HERE!

• If you would like to see a complete list of all of our in-kind needs-CLICK HERE!

• Where Can I Donate?

  
  
  • Donation Station (pictured at left) at 1 Haven for Hope Way (Map),
    Monday - Friday
    8am - 5pm & Saturday 10am - 3pm
    In observance of Thanksgiving, the Warehouse will be closed Thursday, November 22 thru Sunday, November 25.
  
  
  
  
  
  • Transitional Living and Learning Center (pictured at right) at
    5922 Blanco Rd (Map), Everyday 8am - 6pm

• Contact Information

  • If you have NEW items to donate or are interested in holding a Collection Drive for SAMMinistries, please contact us at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it or call (210) 321-5624. (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.)
  • For all other donation of used items, please call the SAMMinistries Donation Station located at 1 Haven for Hope Way: 210-220-2413. If no one is able to answer the phone, please leave a message and your call will be returned.
  • SAMMinistries Main Office and Administration: 210-340-0302

• Urgent Needs:

  Urgent needs are items that are timely, seasonal or items for which there is an immediate need. Currently, we are in real need of heavy twin and full  blankets, comforters and sheets, as well as baby items, dishes, pots and pans. Drop them off at any location listed below!
  
  We also need supplies for our families moving into our program to give them the necessary items to get back on their feet. Pots, pans and dishes are just a few of the items needed for our Welcome Baskets. See the link below for the complete list!

  
  
  
  • Heavy-weight twin and full size blankets, comforters and sheets
  • New pots and pans
  • New dish sets
  • Powder baby formula
  • Diapers sizes 4-6 & Pull-ups

• If you would like to see a complete list of all of our in-kind needs-CLICK HERE!

• Where Can I Donate?
  

  
  
  
  
  
  • Donation Station (pictured at left) at 1 Haven for Hope Way (Map), Monday - Friday
    8am - 5pm & Saturday 10am - 3pm
  
  
  
  • Transitional Living and Learning Center (pictured at right) at 5922 Blanco Rd (Map), Everyday 8am - 6pm
    
    
    







• Where Do the Donations Go?

  • To those who need them most.
    • Our families and single men and women are provided with toiletries, clothing, and bedding while in our care.
    • Residents who transition to a place of their own are provided with basic furniture items as they obtain self-sufficiency.
      
      

• Contact Information

  • If you have NEW items to donate or are interested in holding a Collection Drive for SAMMinistries, please contact us at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it or (210) 321-5624. (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.)
  • For all other donation of used items, please call the SAMMinistries Donation Station located at 1 Haven for Hope Way: 210-220-2413. If no one is able to answer the phone, please leave a message and your call will be returned.
  • SAMMinistries Main Office and Administration: 210-340-0302

Thank you for your interest in this new and unique volunteer opportunity!

Feel free to print the form and look at it before you visit.
Then we ask that you come back to this link after you visit, answer the questions,
and send us your form by clicking the "Submit by Email" button at the top of the first page.

Remember, your responses will be used to help in our training and we need your honest evaluations. Although your visit will be scheduled, your name will not appear on the form.
Your viewpoints will be handled anonymously when reviewed and discussed

Click here to read the Mystery Donor Feedback Form

Ernestine lived and worked in Dallas, but sold everything to come to San Antonio to reconnect with her family. So, after her second day at their house, when she returned from looking for a job, she was shocked and hurt to find her luggage at the front door.

A working person, Ernestine had never been homeless and thought it could not happen to her. However, now she was homeless and living on the streets. She slept wherever she could; in the back of a truck or abandoned buildings. She wrapped herself in a sheet because she could feel some sort of animal trying to bite her.

She found herself dirty and without food for three days. She went to the San Antonio River to clean her hands and face and was almost arrested. She was carrying what little she had in the world, she was hungry and all she could feel was the judgement of the people who saw her condition.Then she came to SAMMinistries and was welcomed with dignity and compassion!

Now starting over, she is taking classes at San Antonio College to get a Medical Billing Certification. But that is not the only classes she has taken. Ernestine took an anger management class that helped her forgive her family--it changed her way of thinking!

“I have learned to live with others.  When you live in a dorm with 250 women, you change—emotionally, spiritually.  Here, I’ve learned to be more patient with others because we really don’t know what they have gone through.  I’m learning to better focused, to stay active and focus on my healing.  Achieving my goals won’t come easy, but the opportunities are here.”

Thankful for all of those opportunities, she knows without the help of SAMM donors and volunteers, "I'd be living in the field, or an abandoned building. Perhaps drinking or doing drugs again. I have been thanking God a lot, too. I do a lot of praying.  There are times I want to give up, but I can’t.  The spiritual aspect gives me strength.”

Now the lady that once was hungry, tired, dirty and degraded has found forgiveness, strength, new life skills and is looking to a future. When asked about her goals Ernestine, ready to take care of someone else, smiled and said, "To finish school and get my Medical Billing certificate, find a job and get myself financially stable so I can find a place to live . . . and get a dog."

If you would like to help in our service to Ernestine and 1,200 people we care for each night,
use these links to:

• make a gift (once there, click on "Give Online" to make your gift)
  

• volunteer (read a list of volunteer opportunities for registered volunteers)
  

• donate in kind items (read a list of needed items and contact info)
  

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!