Irene Basdakis

In April 2025, Marilyn lost custody of her children. At the time, she was homeless, struggling with mental illness, recovering from addiction, and overwhelmed by circumstances she never imagined her life would become. “I was a mentally ill homeless mother,” Marilyn shared honestly. “And I needed help.” She had nowhere to go, no stability, and no clear path forward. But despite everything she had lost, Marilyn held onto one powerful motivation: her children.

At Grandma’s House of Hope, we serve adults who carry one of the most painful and often unspoken consequences of housing instability: losing custody of their children—or feeling forced to give them up—simply because they did not have stable housing.

At Grandma’s House of Hope, every person who walks through the doors is seen, valued, and cared for—not just as someone experiencing homelessness, but as a whole person with a story, wounds, dreams, and untapped potential. We’re not simply a shelter providing temporary relief. This is a place where we make a deliberate decision to go deep—because real transformation requires more than a quick solution.