Raleigh group helping homeless find permanent solutions

After graduating with a degree in chemistry, Afton Harris couldn’t find a job and was forced into homelessness during the holiday season last year. Harris said she lived out of her car at one point, and her 2-year-old daughter, Autumn, stayed with her grandmother.

Harris eventually found PLM Families Together, a Raleigh group that helps move people from homelessness into stable housing.

The organization helped Harris and her daughter move into a Raleigh home over the summer. Now she’s working two part-time jobs to make ends meet.

“I wanted a house. Now that I have it, I want to work hard to keep it,” Harris said.

“A lot of them are in crisis,” said PLM Families Together Executive Director, Lisa Rowe. “A lot of them don’t know where they’re going to stay that night or where their children are going to stay that night.”

PLM Families Together donors made sure Autumn had plenty of toys under the tree Christmas morning, something she didn’t have last year.

“I couldn’t afford anything for her,” Harris said. “But this Christmas is different.”

Rowe says up to 300 people a month call PLM Families Together in need of help. She said the need goes on all year, well beyond the holidays.