From an outsider’s perspective, Noah’s family seemed like any other.

Though they lived in a poor neighborhood, both of Noah’s parents had jobs. While there were plenty of kids in the neighborhood who did drugs and were involved in gangs, Noah and his siblings weren’t among them. Nobody ever assumed things were anything but normal at his house. 

But behind closed doors, it was a different story. 

Noah’s parents had a volatile relationship. It didn’t help that they both regularly drank too much. They spent many nights screaming at each other. When his parents fought, Noah and his brothers and sisters would huddle together in one of their bedrooms, terrified. 

Eventually, his parents’ fights became physical. Noah’s older sister became concerned and contacted the authorities about what was going on. It was decided that Noah and his siblings would stay with his grandmother until his parents could provide a more stable environment for them to live in. 

Noah’s grandmother lived in another neighborhood of the city, far from where Noah grew up. This meant changing schools, leaving behind friends, and having to learn his way around a new part of town. 

The new neighborhood was much safer, and life at Noah’s grandmother’s home was quiet and orderly. All of his siblings seemed much happier in this new situation, but Noah had a hard time adjusting to the sudden change. He was sad, angry, and felt completely alone. 

Unsure how to express his feelings, Noah began to act out. He refused to follow any of his grandmother’s rules and began doing whatever he wanted—staying out too late, talking back, and picking fights with his siblings. At school, when he bothered to go, he got in more fights and disrupted class at every opportunity. 

After several months of this, one day Noah again found himself in the school principal’s office. In the past, the principal had chided him for his behavior and doled out an appropriate punishment. But this time, he decided to take a different approach. 

He asked Noah what was going on at home. At first, Noah didn’t want to open up about everything he had gone through in the past year. But soon, the whole story ended up coming out.  

Fortunately, Noah’s principal knew about Mercy Home. He told Noah that it was a place where he could make a fresh start and learn to cope with everything that had happened to him. While Noah was initially wary of the idea, he knew that he needed to make a change in his life. Not long after, he moved in. 

Coming to Mercy Home was another hard adjustment for Noah. For someone who had only seen fighting and anger as a way to deal with problems, Noah struggled to learn new ways to deal with others.  

But nobody at Mercy Home gave up on Noah. And most importantly, Noah never gave up on himself. Even when things got difficult, he was determined to put in the hard work to make a change in his life. Eventually, he became comfortable opening up to the other boys about his tumultuous home life growing up, and found many of them had similar experiences.  

He worked with our therapists to process and cope with the trauma of his upbringing. The bonds he made with those who listened to and shared his experiences truly brought comfort and healing to Noah. I wish I could put into words the change I’ve seen in Noah in the past year he has been at our Home! Today, he is a leader among his peers—the first to listen when someone has a problem and the first to act as peacemaker when there is a disagreement.  

Thank you for giving kids like Noah a new start when they need it most. Your prayers and support make a difference in their lives 

Please note: Because we care deeply about protecting our children’s privacy, the names and certain identifying details in this story have been changed.