A woman on the verge of homelessness was searching for someone to take her cats. She found months-long support from an unlikely source

"My heart has been through a whole lot," Jones said.

She lost her son Deonte, 7, and daughter Tamara, 8, in a car crash just before Christmas in 2003.

"I haven't truly healed from that," Jones said.

She wasn't given time. Jones was pregnant with her fourth child and still had to be a parent to her other child, a 3-year-old, who was not killed in the crash.

Jones, now 44, was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder and major depressive disorder after losing her children.

On top of that, she was dealing with medical issues and needed back surgery.

But there was one constant in Jones' life in the years after the crash — her cats Diamond and Skittles.

"They were my emotional support animals," she said. "They were my babies."

Everyone in Jones' life knows how much those cats mean to her. Diamond, a girl, and Skittles, a boy, — just like Tamira and Deonte.

Jones and her husband moved to Garner in 2018. During that time, she stayed at home, struggling with physical and mental health issues and unable to work.

Less than two years after moving to the Triangle, her husband left her.

"He got up one day in July 2021 and said he didn't want the marriage and he walked out on me," she said.

With no source of income, Jones was evicted from her apartment soon after.

"I was in a hotel one night and I realized that I couldn't afford the hotel," she said.

The biggest problem was that Jones had her two beloved cats with her.

She begged for her husband to take the two cats with him, but he wouldn't.

"I don't have no family here," she said. "[They're] the only family I got."

She couldn't lose her cats too. So she found Cat Angels animal rescue online and gave them a call.

Within two days, the owner of Cat Angels Deborah Fox said that they would take in the cats and board them for free until Jones could get back on her feet.

"My cats were my emotional support animals," she said. "When I would cry, they would come on the bed with me and comfort me. When I had to give them up, my emotional support was gone."

Jones said she was in and out of cheap motels and shelters across Wake County, working two jobs 7 days a week.

"I really felt like I had nobody then," she said.

While Jones was homeless, she came by Cat Angels to play with Diamond and Skittles. It made her hard work worthwhile.

It took Jones several months until she was able to afford an apartment in Raleigh on Centennial Parkway. Jones said she was denied several rental applications because of her prior eviction.

"Nobody would trust me with a home," she said. "I had to pay a high deposit."

But she didn't have to pay it alone.

"We sent a notice out to all of our volunteers asking for help for the pet deposit and one of our volunteers donated the entire $800 to pay for the pet deposit," said Elizabeth Towns, adoption counselor and volunteer coordinator at Cat Angels.

On top of that, volunteers at Cat Angels rounded up $450 worth of gift cards to help Jones get back on her feet.

"I hope people support Cat Angels because they really have done me good," Jones said.

Jones said she has been telling everyone at her new job that she now is in an apartment with her cats.

"Anybody that knows me knows I got my cats back," she said.

Jones has a sweet spot for her kitty Diamond, who she says is a talker. She's happy to get back to the mundane things in life, like being woken up by Diamond's loud meows.

"She's the mess," Jones laughed. "She was talking to me this morning."

Jones said she wants to raise awareness of the chronic issue of homelessness in the Triangle.

"Everybody that's homeless is not on drugs," she said. "I was homeless because I was abandoned."

She wants others who are struggling with homelessness to be encouraged by her story.

"Just hold out, it will work out," she said.