Anastasia’s Story

Where others saw obstacles, Anastasia saw opportunities.

Between 3,000 and 4,000 South Carolina children and youth are in foster care at any given moment. The lucky ones are safely housed with loving foster families. The others bounce from one foster family to another, often ending up in group homes where survival can be traumatic, even treacherous.

At 18, they age out of the system — often with nowhere to go, no life skills, and no one in their corner. Sometimes they end up at Transitions. Often, their Transitions case manager is the first person who has ever paid real attention to them.

Meet Anastasia.

Anastasia was born in Germany, where her mother was serving in the Army. When she was a month old, her mother sent her to live with another family member. From then on, she was bounced between family and friends, stints with her mother, and foster care.

"When I was 13, my grandma sent me to a facility and then to a cousin who was doing drugs," she said. "I called my mom, and she came and got me."

Anastasia moved in with her mother in Greenville and at age 15 got a job. She and her mother argued about money.

"My mom said she didn't want me," she said, "and told me to leave."

She spent the rest of her teens in foster care, mainly in group homes.

"A group home is full of other troubled girls. I was in one for two years," she said. "I fought a lot. I fought everything. For a while, I was with a foster mom and was very happy, but then the system sent me to another facility."

Able to qualify for a year's extension, she stayed in the group home until her 19th birthday in August — at which point she was told to pack her belongings and leave. Her mother wouldn't take her back. She spent days going from place to place, ending up in Columbia at Columbia Housing, where a social worker was unable to find a shelter bed for her.

"That night I had nowhere to go and just sat on a bench in the dark in front of the center. I thought I would jump in a lake and kill myself," she said. "The next day, I told my social worker, and she got me a hotel room for two days."

Can you imagine being a 19-year-old girl suddenly alone in a strange city, with no life skills, no money, no contacts, and nowhere to go?

Determined to no longer be vulnerable, she called every shelter in Columbia. Transitions was the only one able to give her a bed.

We gave her an emergency bed as part of our outreach program. Surprisingly, instead of seeing herself as a victim of insurmountable obstacles, Anastasia saw Transitions as offering her the first opportunity she'd ever had to gain control over her destiny.

She now has two jobs and her own apartment, thanks to a housing voucher from Columbia Housing's Foster Youth Independence program. She has a set of achievable goals — one of which she'll reach by starting cosmetology school in January.

She credits her case manager, Keri Wilson, for her progress.

"Keri is my mother. She's always been supportive. She's straight up with me. Talks to me like I'm a grown woman."

The feelings are mutual.

"As much as I'm the light in her life, she's the light in mine," said Keri.

Still only 19 years old, Anastasia is on the path to the stability most of us take for granted. Keri will remain her case manager for the first year of her independent living — giving her the security of knowing that someone who cares about her is just a phone call away.

For 19 years, Anastasia faced obstacles beyond her control. Thanks to a combination of compassion and services found nowhere else in the Midlands, she turned those obstacles into opportunities.

Every young person deserves a chance to find their footing.

Anastasia's story is one of thousands. Your gift funds the case managers, the emergency beds, and the services that make moments like hers possible.

James’s Story

James and his family faced a difficult decision.

His wife and their teenage twins, a boy and a girl, had the chance to move from their small town, an hour and a half away, to Columbia for better opportunities. But James couldn’t come with them. A past legal barrier prevented him from being on their lease, and so the family made the painful choice to go ahead without him. He was left behind. 

Determined to be close to his family, he made his way to Columbia. He tried another shelter first and was turned away. Then he found Transitions. He walked through our doors and was met with open arms. For James, that was all he needed. 

His First Thirty Days

James entered our Men’s Emergency program, the first step in Transitions’ program designed to meet people exactly where they are. In Emergency, the focus is on stability and getting the foundational pieces in place so a person can begin to move forward. 

Case manager Chiana worked alongside James in those early weeks, helping him access healthcare, get his documentation in order, and apply for the benefits he qualified for. He got his first job at a nearby McDonald’s and began saving. 

He also received a referral to Transitions’ Homeless Court program, where staff began helping him navigate a legal barrier that had followed him for years: a suspended license from out of state that he had never had the resources or guidance to resolve. 

Moving Up

After the full 30 days in Emergency, James moved up into Men’s 100, the next step in Transitions’ program. Here, clients begin taking on more responsibility while still receiving the support and structure they need to keep moving forward. Case manager Cianna continued walking alongside him as he settled into this next chapter. 

When a higher paying position opened at a local poultry processing plant, Chiana helped him apply online and his wife drove him to the interview. He started work that same night. 

James kept showing up. He kept working. He kept saving. 

With steady progress and consistent work, James moved into Transitions’ Extended program, where clients who are employed and saving are guided to take that final step toward independence. 

It was here that he met case manager Elandra. Everything shifted into high gear. 

Someone in His Corner

When James moved into Extended, he began working with case manager Elandra. At Transitions, case managers meet with their clients every two weeks, sitting down together to review budgets, track progress, and work through whatever comes next. James worked the overnight shift at the plant. Before going to sleep, Elandra’s desk was his first stop. 

“He came here with the mindset that he wanted to do better,” Elandra says. “Every time we met, we talked about that and he just kept going. He made it easy.” 

At each meeting, Elandra and James sat down together and went through his budget, reviewing his income, his expenses, and his savings. They worked through his legal situation, tracking deadlines and the next steps of the process. And every time, Elandra made sure James left with a clear picture of where he stood and what was coming next. 

The legal process was ongoing and complex. The suspended license was from North Carolina, which meant Transitions’ Homeless Court program could only go so far. Elandra went online and researched the hearing process from scratch, something she had never done before. She tracked down the right forms, coordinated an FBI background check and a SLED check, and helped James stay on top of every appointment and deadline. She learned alongside him, every step of the way. 

Residents at Transitions follow a curfew and are expected to return each night. Elandra saw how hard James was working and made a special exception for him, giving him permission to spend every weekend with his wife and twins, who lived just 4 minutes away. James was so committed to doing everything by the book that he kept asking her every week, until Elandra finally told him he didn’t need to ask anymore. 

Finding the Right Place

James had a vision, and he had held onto it since the day he arrived. He didn’t want another apartment. He wanted a home for his family, one they didn’t have to move from anymore. 

He started researching on his own and found a manufactured home company he wanted to work with. What he needed was land. He had been searching in Richland County, but prices were out of reach. Elandra advised him to look further out toward Lexington County, where land was more affordable. She connected him with a realtor who showed him around, and James found exactly what he was looking for. 

He saved his down payment and closing costs entirely on his own, over the course of his time at Transitions. Eighteen months after walking through our doors, James passed the inspection and received his keys. 

He didn’t just find a place to live. 

He bought a home. With land. In Lexington County. 

Coming Home

James is moving in this month. His wife has already started bringing things over, getting the house ready for the day they are all together again. When the school year ends, the whole family will move in together.

For the first time in his life, James owns a home. And it is already full of the people he loves.

“I wanted a home I didn’t have to move from anymore.”

He got exactly that.

Your Support Made This Possible

James’s story is remarkable. But it didn’t happen by accident. It happened because Transitions accepted him when other places turned him away. It happened because case managers connected him to resources he didn’t know were available and walked alongside him through a complex legal barrier. It happened because staff sat down with him every two weeks to go over his budget line by line. It happened because a case manager saw what James needed and made a special exception, giving him permission to spend every weekend with the family he was working so hard to get back to. 

None of it happens without you. 

For just $44, you can give someone 24 hours at Transitions with access to all our on-site services. Double or triple it and give even more people the chance to turn their life around. 

A Client Story: One Step at a Time

Marcus* is a writer with a story in progress about a Black Navajo Buffalo Soldier navigating moral conflict and seeking justice on the frontier. He is the kind of man who finds meaning in characters who are determined and purpose-driven, which says a lot about who he is himself.  

For years, Marcus managed his Type 2 diabetes through discipline and lifestyle changes, even getting off medication entirely. But when his health began to decline again in his mid-60s, the cost of insulin and mounting medical bills became overwhelming. His life began to unravel. He was not yet old enough for Medicare and could not navigate the Social Security system alone. The weight of it all began affecting his health and his marriage. He needed housing, healthcare, and a way forward. Transitions helped him get back on his feet, and for a time, it worked. He found employment and moved to another city to try to get ahead financially. But the job was not what he expected, and he found himself spending everything he earned on Uber rides nearly 20 miles each way to work, with nothing left over to pay down his debt or cover his growing medical bills. With his health continuing to decline and no stable housing, Marcus found himself with nowhere to turn. He came back to Transitions and started over. 

This time, the path forward was built one step at a time. Marcus began in the emergency shelter program, then worked his way into the men’s residential program, and eventually moved into extended housing, a journey that spanned two years. His case managers helped him successfully apply for Social Security and government health benefits, finally giving him access to the insulin and medical care he had gone without for so long. Cooperative Health provided on site primary care and mental health services right where he lived, helping him get his diabetes and blood pressure under control. He attended anger management and life skills class that helped him stay emotionally steady through the hard days. And every week, three different faith communities came to Transitions to offer spiritual support. Marcus showed up for all of them. “It kept me grounded,” he said. “What I was going through, it’ll work out. God will make sure it works out.”  

Today, Marcus has his own apartment, his first choice of all the places he applied for. He has held steady employment for nearly two years. And he has picked his novel back up. Most importantly, he told us: “I feel independent again. I have some control over my life, and that is a reward in itself.” 

*Name and photo changed to protect privacy.

For just $44, you can give someone 24 hours at Transitions with access to all our on-site services. Double or triple it and give even more people the chance to turn their life around.