Keeping a roof over their heads
The domino effect began with a single illness that would change everything for Brendan Lorente’s family of six. His wife, Heather, contracted a highly contagious bacterial infection that required weeks of hospitalization, leaving the family on the brink of losing their home. But just as things were reaching a breaking point, they found help from St. Vincent de Paul right in their neighborhood thanks to the nonprofit's network of Vincentian volunteers.
Before the family crisis, Brendan had a steady job as an automotive service writer, and his wife, Heather, picked up work as a cook to help support their family. Their finances were manageable. Until one day, Heather became ill.
Heather began experiencing severe abdominal cramping along with other gastrointestinal symptoms. When she visited the emergency room, they diagnosed her with Clostridioides difficile (C. Diff) a highly contagious bacterial infection, resistant to traditional treatment, and requiring her to remain isolated in the hospital for weeks.
I felt helpless,” Brendan remembers. “I fix cars. I fix people’s stuff. But I couldn’t fix this.
Brendan suddenly found himself in survival mode, trying to balance his job with caring for their four children and visiting Heather in the hospital. The pressure became too much as Brendan did his best to be there for his family and be the breadwinner. But circumstances were too much. Brendan soon lost his job, after staying home one too many times to care for the children. The family’s main source of income vanished, and the bills quickly piled up as they fell behind on rent.
“Being a man and being the sole provider and not being able to do that—it does something to your soul,” Brendan says.
Desperate to keep his family afloat, Brendan walked into a local food bank looking for resources. That’s where someone handed him a list of community resources. At the very top was SVdP.
Brendan called was connected to the Vincentian volunteers based out of All Saints Catholic Church in his neighborhood. He told them his situation and soon enough, the Vincentians visited his home to listen to his story and deliver support. They worked with the family step-by-step through the rent assistance application and provided food boxes. Thankfully, Brendan's landlord, seeing the family’s effort and struggle, agreed to hold off on eviction.
He said to me, ‘If you can’t pay me, how are you going to get another place to live?’ Brendan remembers.
When the Vincentians called to confirm that the Lorente family had been approved for assistance, Brendan could hardly believe it.
“It felt like the weight of the world was off my shoulders,” he says.
The support from SVdP covered their overdue rent, utility bills, and late fees, everything they needed get caught up to current date and stay in their home the family got back on their feet. For Heather, still recovering from her illness, it was the answer to weeks of prayer.
“I was praying daily, praying my rosary,” she says. “Just praying that we would have stability.”
The timing of the assistance meant the world to them, especially as their oldest daughter was about to graduate high school.
I couldn’t let my daughter face that milestone without knowing where she was going to sleep that night,” Heather says. “Our other daughter’s birthday was coming up and I'm just happy to have a home and a place for her to celebrate.
With more stability, Brendan feels determine to give back to his community and pay it forward.
“I told the Vincentians, 'If there’s ever a single mom who needs her car fixed, just call me. I’ll do it."”
The experience revealed to the couple the power of community support and the importance of organizations like SVdP that step in during families' darkest moments. Today, both parents are working again. They work opposite shifts to care for their children. While money remains tight, they're managing their bills and looking forward to the future where one day they will be able to buy their own home and purchase a car for their daughter before she starts college.
