This has been an extraordinary journey and I’m so grateful that God allowed me to live to tell my story. My hope is that you will find a connection so deep that the little girl or boy in you will speak up.
This book is about Recovering, Repairing, Repaying and Rejoicing.
When you purchase this book, you are DOUBLING your impact. Half of all the proceeds go directly to benefit Time for Change Foundation.
Time for Change Foundation offers emergency shelter housing, permanent – supportive housing, and affordable housing for families and individuals. You can view our headquarters, housing programs, emergency housing for women & children, and our Phoenix Square and Mountain view housing locations. Our programs are designed to help women and children have a safe, welcome, and warm environment to get back on their feet.
The mission of Time for Change Foundation is to empower disenfranchised low-income individuals and families by building leadership through evidence-based programs and housing to create self-sufficiency and thriving communities.
TFCF is the national model of excellence for creating self-sufficient families and thriving communities which have quality education and training programs, housing and employment programs, effective family reunification programs, and so much more.
Our shared belief in the mission is the foundation upon which we execute our commitment to the success of Time for Change Foundation. We believe in the following to be true and in line with some of our core values like respect, compassion, integrity, and professionalism.
At Time for Change Foundation, we provide several services to our clients, and local communities. Our services are focused on our mission and commitment of empowering disenfranchised low-income individuals and families
Our main goal is that families transition into permanent housing with the capability to maintain housing where a family can thrive
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We offer programs to our clients to prepare them for obstacles they may face when they reach the ability to live on their own.
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We provide education, counseling, and therapy to help our clients overcome alcohol and/or other drug abuse challenges.
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Offering leadership development and civic engagement empowering women to be the change they want to see in their family.
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We are trailblazers in creating a housing model providing low-income housing and a safe place where local families can thrive.
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Offering training and projects for clients and partners wanting to make a positive change for themselves and their community.
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Tantunia grew up in an addiction-filled family with a single mother who worked a lot. By the time she was 19 years old, Tantunia fell in love young, giving birth to 2 beautiful children. She knew she was too young and disappointed her mother. Though the relationship with her mother wasn’t always the best, she helped with raising the children. The father of her children was still around, but was just as irresponsible as her. With addiction and dysfunction being all that she knew, she started smoking marijuana.
At this point, she was meeting the wrong people, living unhealthy, fighting with family, the children’s father, and started to rely on using drugs to cope. Years passed and her mother continued to help financially. The children’s father ended up going to jail to get sober for a couple of years, not realizing that recovery programs were an option. The kids started school, and so did she.
Tantunia was doing well for a while despite never getting the help needed for her underlying issues. The addiction, depression, and traumatic events that happened while growing up led to a relationship with an older man who used drugs. With a lack of knowledge of recovery, she started using again. This time, however, Tantunia used harder drugs. She was 23 when the relationship turned into one of domestic violence. She stayed in this relationship for 2 years without support from family, ended up in jail, and lost custody of her children.
After a year of fighting to gain back custody, Tantunia was introduced to NA and recovery rooms. She left her toxic relationship, got a restraining order, and never looked back. Still fighting addiction, the kids moved to Texas with her mom, giving her time to get sober and financially stable. It took Tantunia 3 years to work on this. She eventually found a partner that supported her sobriety, they got their own place and were engaged. While the couple planned on having a baby, her children came back from Texas.
Soon she was pregnant with her third child but unfortunately, Tantunia failed to stay on top of her recovery. She stopped going to meetings, therapy, and self-care. Even though her family was back together, a part of Tantunia slipped away. Before she knew it, she was pregnant and using. Her baby tested positive. “My decision ripped away my family, home, and stability. My kids went back to Texas, my newborn baby stayed with the father, and I had to leave my home. I was so hurt by my actions.”
After that, she realized enough was enough and entered TFCF on December 9, 2021. Her goals were to reunite with her son, remain in sobriety, become self-sufficient and graduate from a drug and alcohol program. As a participant of the Positive Family Future Reunification Program, she has been given the opportunity to garner the skillset that breaks the cycle of generational domestic violence.
She got her job at Stater Bros on February 10, and a promotion with the company within a couple of weeks! She has completed participation in all of TFCF’s classes and programs: Life Skills, 12 –Step Education, and Relapse Prevention. She is also well on her way to completing and receiving her certificate for drugs and alcohol. Recently, Tantunia went to court and was awarded her rights back to her son, she has achieved her goal of reunifying with her baby boy! Next is getting her own home for her and her son. We are so proud of her!
“I’ve realized addiction is a disease, and I will forever need to stay connected to NA, recovery, and seek help when I need it. I enrolled in drug and alcohol programs and I’m about to graduate. I had a relapse, but am still fighting to remain sober and not be homeless again.”
Rita is the middle child with an older brother of one year and a younger sister of five years. Both Rita’s mom and dad were addicts. Although they never verbally spoke about it, she was aware. Her mother has since passed after having several years of sobriety. After her husband died, she suffered a hard relapse. Rita watched as her mother’s life went into oblivion. Her mother died in her arms in the hospital after becoming septic from all the poison.
Throughout her teenage years, Rita used heroine all the time. She ran away at 15 years old. She lived up north for a few years before being sent back home. She was living with her grandparents when her grandmother moved to Highland. Rita chose to stay in Rialto, a major decision that altered her life forever. She had no guidance, no authority, no rules. Rita was completely alone.
Not finishing high school, she returned home at 20 years old, after giving birth to her daughter in 1992. Rita was on-and-off drugs ever since, in-and-out of institutions and prison, and in a relationship that overtook her life well into her 30s. Her entire life was based on one man and drugs. In 2016, after a case, she was granted a chance at drug court. Rita graduated from drug court, with honors, and even made the front of the Yucca Valley newspaper.
Rita began working and trying to maintain her recovery for 4 years. But she never really got past her mother’s death, along with several friends soon after. She ended up getting 3 DUI’s and entered Cedar House to get a grip on herself. “You see at 47 years old you realize more than you did at 22. This is me saving myself, this is me surrendering to Yeshua, this is me loving myself enough to save myself. So now Time for Change Foundation is helping me change so that this time will be the last time I fall.”
Rita came to TFCF on January 6th of 2022. She has excelled in our Legal Employment Accessing Profit. The LEAP Program is for formerly incarcerated individuals and individuals impacted by the war on drugs that want to gain employment. On February 25, Rita got a job at Stater Bros. So far, she has received both her 30-day and 60-day certificates for Life Skills. She is also on her way to completing and receiving her certificate for 12-step Education and Relapse Prevention.
With newly found confidence, Rita has now reached self-sufficiency, is maintaining her sobriety, and has since moved into her own home. “I couldn’t have done it without TFCF. Key point is having a place to lay your head and rejuvenate your body is important. You feel a rested body and clear head, so you don’t have to worry about not having a place to go or going back to a place where there are triggers. Having a safe place is key to accomplishing anything.”
Tamara came from a family that did things “by the book” to provide for the family, but emotionally and mentally they weren’t there. That caused her to do everything on her own, making her mature at a young age. This made her feel like she lacked things, such as compassion. She chose the wrong men and friends wanting to be liked, no matter how they treated her.
All Tamara saw in her family was struggle. No one really loving or caring for one another, no support, no positivity, just negativity and doom. She left home after high school at 18. She was on her own ever since, struggling to support her children without the help and support from family. Tamara did her best to not be like her family, she wanted to change the narrative, learn to break the habits that would pass down to her children and hold her back, and she was tired of not living up to her best self.
Tamara came to TFCF on January 21, 2022. Along with her 2 beautiful daughters, she had a goal to work toward building a stable income and finding her own home. Tamara has completed 30 and 60 day Life Skills classes, Leadership Development, Mommy and Me, Employment Development and parenting classes.
With an interest in education, she started working on March 11. As a substitute teacher, she has worked in San Bernardino and Chino school districts. Tamara has made her way to self-sufficiency, and has moved into her own place in April 2022. She is proving motherhood is a powerful driving force!
“Moving forward I won’t live in fear or trauma- only my purpose and future. My kids deserve the best of me. I deserve to have more for myself. I will not give up on myself anymore. This program is the start of my journey and I believe God brought me here for a reason.”
Andrea grew up in San Jose, Ca in a safe and happy family with faithfully married parents and 3 sisters. She was raised not to steal or lie at a young age. Throughout her youth and young adult life, Andrea struggled with weight issues and obesity accompanied by a bit of the “wild middle child” complex. Andrea says she was always a very hardheaded, willfully, strong-minded girl.
She went to school for her Associates of Science in Child Development and worked as the Director of a Christian preschool for 8 years. At the age of 20, Andrea married her high school sweetheart, her very first boyfriend. She was very young and naïve, following in the footsteps of her older sister who also married young. The marriage lasted less than a year.
The death of Andrea’s mother and the loss of her twin nieces began the start of a deep depression in her life. This took her to a low that no matter what she did or what medication she took she couldn’t seem to pull out from it. This began her substance abuse. Andrea spiraled in and out of parties, alcohol, drugs, and reckless behavior for some years. This path led to domestic violence, unhealthy relationships, jail, and legal problems.
During this time Andrea was in a horrific car accident that broke her neck caused a spinal injury, and caused her to eventually lose her right leg below the knee. This further caused her to struggle with substance abuse. Andrea’s wake up call came after serving 44 days in county jail for a DUI. She found AA and the 12-step program as a way out for the next 6 years. She had 2 beautiful children, Luke, and Donna with her new spouse who she met in AA.
Two years after giving birth to her daughter, Andrea relapsed on drugs and alcohol, followed by depression which led her to bad life decisions, chaos, and more loss. Andrea came to Time for Change Foundation holding firmly to the goal of getting her children back from foster care, correcting her financial burdens, legal problems, and the consequences of her actions.
Currently, she is attending TFCF’s drug and alcohol classes, parenting classes, is part of the PFFR Program, and has since accomplished a goal by resolving her DMV issues and purchasing a car! Her motivator in her journey to self-sufficiency is her children. Next, she hopes to use the structure and stability gained from TFCF to get her own place.
Source: OBWoman Creative We’ve all heard the conversations that, “I was born on the wrong side of the tracks” or “I wasn’t born with a silver spoon” to express hardships, set-ups for failure, and an explanation of the lack of success. And though these are true sentiments, stories as old as time have proven that these cannot and will not...
Source:Daily Blast Live Time for Change Foundation founder Kim Carter was featured as a guest on Daily Blast Live on January 19, 2023 while promoting her new book, 'Waking Up to My Purpose.' Kim spoke with the hosts on Thursday about being born on the wrong side of the tracks, and the extreme conditions she faced growing up. They also...
Source: People Magazine Los Angeles Rams linebacker Bobby Wagner is always looking for ways to give back to his community, he tells PEOPLE. The 32-year-old NFL star recently made a generous donation to the Time for Change Foundation, which helps women "to recreate their life" after they've been incarcerated, in rehabilitation centers or domestic violence shelters, says founder Kim Carter....
