{"id":467490,"date":"2026-10-16T04:26:10","date_gmt":"2026-10-16T04:26:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/467490\/"},"modified":"2026-10-16T04:26:10","modified_gmt":"2026-10-16T04:26:10","slug":"dallas-woman-rebuilds-her-life-with-help-from-austin-street-centers-sisterhood-program","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/467490\/","title":{"rendered":"Dallas woman rebuilds her life with help from Austin Street Center&#8217;s Sisterhood Program"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Austin Street Center will hold its annual Humble Beginnings Luncheon on Friday, featuring Venus Williams and highlighting its mission to help people experiencing homelessness.<\/p>\n<p>This year, the organization plans to spotlight its Sisterhood Program, which specifically supports women who are working to rebuild their lives. \u00a0<\/p>\n<p>For Maggie Williams, moving boxes and bags represents a fresh start. About 10 years ago, her life began to unravel after the loss of her husband.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0&#8220;Dealing with the grief, and you know, I do suffer with depression anyway, I think it was just a combination of that impact,&#8221; she said. \u00a0&#8220;I started drinking more.. and more.. and realized that I had a problem.&#8221;\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>      <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/snapshot-35.jpg#.jpeg\" alt=\"snapshot-35.jpg \" height=\"349\" width=\"620\" class=\" lazyload\"  loading=\"lazy\"\/><\/p>\n<p>                CBS News Texas<\/p>\n<p>Over the years, she also began struggling with drug addiction. Eventually, she lost her job, then her home, and began living in her car.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I was somewhat suicidal, I have to be honest,&#8221; she said.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Witnessing all of this, Maggie&#8217;s family and friends convinced her to ask for help.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>And this summer, she entered Austin Street Center&#8217;s Sisterhood Program.<\/p>\n<p>The program is designed for women experiencing homelessness who have also faced trauma.. including abuse, exploitation, substance use and mental illness.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Sisterhood is a program for women, and it&#8217;s managed by women,&#8221; Valerie Palmer said. &#8220;Many of the women have lived the experiences as well of homelessness.&#8221;\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Through temporary housing, counseling, therapy, life-skills training and peer support, Maggie says she began rebuilding her life.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I think this place has saved my life,&#8221; Maggie said. &#8220;The resources that it has given me has totally changed my attitude.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Now, Maggie is moving into her own apartment.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;It means a lot,&#8221; she said. &#8220;I am very proud of myself. I have choices.. and I choose.. that I like this life. I like being clean.<\/p>\n<p>After years of uncertainty, she is finally looking forward to what comes next.<\/p>\n<p class=\"content__tags__label\">In:<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Austin Street Center will hold its annual Humble Beginnings Luncheon on Friday, featuring Venus Williams and highlighting its&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":467491,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[102,104,103,430,27],"class_list":["post-467490","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-dallas","tag-dallas","tag-dallas-headlines","tag-dallas-news","tag-north-texas","tag-texas"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/467490","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=467490"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/467490\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/467491"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=467490"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=467490"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=467490"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}