When someone learns of an unexpected and unplanned pregnancy, anxiety and fear are usually reactions that follow. When someone learns of such a pregnancy and also happens to be homeless, their situation becomes drastically more difficult.

Donna McCarley, her staff and “guardian angels” that support Mary’s Shelter in Elberta have dedicated their lives to helping give eight homeless, pregnant women at a time a safe place to have their baby and learn life skills, which will prepare them to reenter the community in a better situation than they entered the shelter.

“We are a shelter for homeless adult pregnant women. We take any woman that is 19 years of age or older that is both homeless and pregnant. It can be at any point in time during their pregnancy and once they get there they can stay up to six months after they have their baby,” McCarley said.

McCarley and her staff want to ensure the women in this situation have a choice.

“We are providing a secure place for women to come and live if they want to have their baby. It is basically an opportunity for them to have a chance to give birth to their baby and not feel like they have to have an abortion,” McCarley said.

The eight-bedroom shelter is somewhat isolated, but offers a home-like haven for homeless mothers to be. According to McCarley, the building was envisioned as a shelter when it was built in 2005. The land was donated to be used as a shelter, and the building has been completely paid for. A group from St. Thomas by the Sea Catholic Church began the shelter, which is one of many similar programs throughout the country.

Mary’s Shelter is the only location where homeless pregnant women can actually stay. Other shelters and programs in Mobile and Baldwin counties will allow them to have a meal or stay the night, but there are no programs like the one at Mary’s Shelter which allows them to reside there and reinvent themselves so they are better prepared to successfully care for themselves and their babies after their time in the shelter comes to an end.

The shelter accepted its first occupant in April, 2006. McCarley reported after following up with former residents that out of all the women who have completed the program, 88 percent were leading successful lives, meaning they had a place to live, a way to support themselves and had maintained custody of their child. She counts this statistic as a sign of success, but she also said this number does not reflect women who left the program before completing it.

The women who don’t finish the program, according to McCarley, don’t tend to do as well in the community.

“A lot of them don’t like the isolation; a lot of them don’t like to do what we tell them that they have to do. Well, if they aren’t going to do it here then they are not going to do it out in the community anyhow,” McCarley said.

Even if a woman prematurely leaves the program, McCarley said the shelter still tries to help them in any way they can, including trying to find them somewhere else to go, at least for a short period of time.

The women who reside at Mary’s Shelter spend their days learning how to take care of their babies, learning responsibility and working together to achieve the same goal — make the outlook of their lives a little brighter.

“While they are here, we do a variety of different types of classes. We do prenatal classes. We do parenting classes. We do Bible studies and we do money management, just any number of different things that we do. We try to identify what their needs are and then we try to get someone in to do a class or we actually have a lot of DVDs and that sort of stuff. We focus a lot on self-esteem, relationships, just any types of things that they need,” McCarley said.

Another key aspect of the program at Mary’s Shelter requires all the women residing there to do basic chores, which they earn points for. According to McCarley, all the tasks the women are asked to do are similar to things that everyone has to do, including getting up, getting dressed and keeping their rooms clean.

“We operate what is called a token economy program here,” McCarley said. “It is called empower me to make informed decisions and they have to work for things. They don’t just come in and we give them whatever they want. They come in and they have to be up by a certain time, they have to clean their room, they have to fix their meals, they have to buy their own groceries, they have to attend class, they have to take care of their baby. They have chores that they have to do. Just like any typical household they have to do those and they get points for doing that.”

Each week, all the women in the shelter have the chance to spend their points on things that they need for themselves or their babies. As the women get closer to leaving the shelter and making it on their own, they also have the opportunity to purchase baby beds and household items that have been donated to the shelter.

“Basically, they are earning the opportunity to purchase things for themselves and their baby,” McCarley said.

Women are required to have a minimum of 65 points a week to stay, but McCarley said typically some women amass more than 200 points each week by going above and beyond the basic tasks that are required of them.

All of the women also receive assistance getting Medicaid and WIC if they don’t have it when they come into the shelter. All of the women are responsible for making their own appointments and doing their own shopping. The women mostly ride the BRATS bus, which stops at the shelter on Tuesdays and Thursdays. If women cannot set up their appointments around the bus schedule, volunteers take them where they need to go.

The shelter also assists all the residents to further their education, from their GED to pursuing a college education.

“If the ladies don’t have a high school diploma, we have them tested to see at what level they are for getting their GED and then we bring in tutors and once they have reached the level where we think they can pass their GED we always have one volunteer who pays for it,” McCarley said.

The women are also required to read books while they are there including “What to Expect When You are Expecting,” and are exposed to other types of education that wil better prepare them to live on their own.

Six months after a mother gives birth to her baby, she is required to leave the shelter, but she is not just turned out in the cold. The shelter has a grant from Impact 100, which allows them to subsidize the mother’s rent and utilities until she can get a job and start paying her own expenses.

“So basically, whatever they need to do to develop the skills or the educational level so that when they are ready to leave they have something to fall back on. They are not going back out into a homeless situation,” McCarley said.

The shelter currently serves Mobile, Baldwin and Escambia counties in Alabama and Escambia and Santa Rosa counties in Florida. McCarley said most clients come from Mobile, Baldwin and Escambia, Fla., but if she has an available space she will offer it to a woman from further away.

Unlike many other shelters, all the women at Mary’s Shelter are allowed to stay until six months after their baby is born in their own room with a bed, a bathroom and a closet. Two rooms at Mary’s Shelter can accommodate a mother who has another child under the age of three as well.

Last week, McCarley only had five occupied rooms, but she was expecting to fill the remaining rooms very quickly. There are currently three babies residing at the shelter.

While offering shelter to a homeless individual is one thing, the women whose lives have been positively impacted by the time they spent at Mary’s Shelter believe they got more than just shelter. Many consider this place to be a haven and are very appreciative of not only the roof over their heads, but also the caring staff who helped them build their self-esteem and life skills.

“I think most of the ladies here really feel like this has been a very good experience for them,” McCarley said. “We basically give them a list of the rules and attitudes and what we expect and if they are agreeable to it they come in and we see how they do.”

Expectant mothers who come into the shelter can make as little, or as much, out of the opportunities the shelter presents to them.

One of the current residents is especially grateful for her place at the shelter.

    “She is really appreciative of being here she told somebody, ‘I wear a size six and a half shoe, but when I went to this one shelter I couldn’t get my foot into a size nine shoe because I had to walk around all the time because I didn’t have anywhere to go,” McCarley said. “So the fact that she was able to come here and live here, and have your own room and do all these different things she is very appreciative of this place.”

    McCarley and the rest of the staff consider all the women who come through the door as part of their family.

“We have expectations of them, but the same as you would of a family member. We expect them to do things for themselves. But when they have babies they are just kind of like our babies,” McCarley said.

There have been more than 30 babies delivered to mothers at the shelter since it opened in 2006, which makes a very large family.

The shelter is mostly funded and supported by donations, and most of the things in the Empower Me store have been donated by members of the community, McCarley said.

McCarley hopes that each woman who comes through the door leaves with the ability to better take care of themselves and their baby.

If there is one thing they are taught at the shelter, it is that they matter, and that good things in life are worth working for.