Mothers serve mothers at PATH Achieve

Five years ago, Debra Collins didn’t care much for Mother’s Day. She had other things to worry about — like finding a place to sleep. She spent some nights a Wal-Mart parking lot. and others on the living room couch of her crystal meth dealer.

This Mother’s Day, however, Collins joined more than a dozen other mothers (all of whom were recently homeless) who volunteered to cook and serve free breakfasts at PATH Achieve Glendale, a transitional housing facility and homeless support center.

“It’s a Mother’s Day gift for me to be here, to see the others here,” said Collins, 46, now clean, sober and employed. She had lived at PATH’s 40-bed home in 2005, but today, she proudly returns to serve meals to those who are just beginning the path to life off the streets.

The event is the brainchild of Nancy Freidson, PATH’s program manager.

“This is my baby,” she said of PATH, where she has worked for the past six years. “I just really wanted to do this.”

The celebration stands as a shining moment for mothers who have faced untold adversity, and still have a long road ahead, she said.

“These people have really been lifesaving,” said Lisa, who lived in PATH with her two young children from June to August. “We had nothing, and now we have a lot of stuff thanks to Nancy. She’s our angel.”

Breakfast treats included chocolate-covered strawberries, hot chocolate, bacon, eggs, orange juice, coffee and Freidson’s “famous” French toast, which has cinnamon, nutmeg and “lots and lots” of pure vanilla, she said. In addition, each mother received a single yellow tulip.

Yaya and Ray Greer, who live in the home with their 1-year-old twin boys, said they were touched by the day’s event.

“This is really special,” Yaya said as she received a tulip from Lisa’s 4-year-old daughter, who circulated around the room passing the golden flowers out from atop a golden platter.

Yaya and Ray, like each of the residents, are motivated to leave PATH and build a future on their own.

“This is not the type of place where people go and then they leave and they are back on the street,” Freidson said. “The people here are motivated hard workers.”