On Nov. 16, Alysha Walker and her family lost their home, suddenly and jarringly, for the second time in 14 months.
The first time, she said, was Sept. 29, 2021, when her boyfriend was shot and killed -- "in front of me," she said -- in the home they shared with their children.
She said they spent the next 11 months sleeping and living where they could, often in her car.
Walker said she was able to move her family into the East Ridge Budgetel Inn in August, only to be swept up in the pre-dawn closure of the motel and displacement of all its residents just days before Thanksgiving.
This time, though, the aftermath was very different -- she said she and her family were in a new apartment three days later, thanks to money from the Times Free Press Neediest Cases Fund.
"I got excited" when officials from the United Way of Greater Chattanooga said they could help, Walker said. "They told me they'd cover the deposit and first month. That was a big relief.
"I'm not gonna lie," she added. "This feels good, right here. It feels good to say, 'This is my home. I'm in my home.'"
Walker, 26, said after her boyfriend's murder, she didn't have the money to keep the house they'd shared.
"I put all our stuff in storage," she said. "We were sleeping in the car for the longest. We went camping sometimes and stayed with family when we could, until it came to a point where we just couldn't stay any longer."
After nearly a year, Walker said, she got help enough from Metropolitan Ministries to get herself, her three children -- now ages 2, 1 and three months -- and her mother into the Budgetel.
"It wasn't just a hotel," she said. "It was a community. I had friends there."
But then came the morning of Nov. 16, when East Ridge and Hamilton County officials knocked on doors about 6:30 a.m. and told residents they had four hours to pack up and leave.
"I'd just paid for a month when they came," Walker said. "Didn't get a refund or anything."
Walker said after leaving the Budgetel, she made her way to her grandmother's home, where she made several calls. One of those, she said, was to 211, the central intake point for the United Way of Greater Chattanooga.
That's when United Way was able to help, program manager Brittany Lockwood said.
"So they didn't need to worry about Thanksgiving," Lockwood said. "It's a stressful time of year, and it was very cold the week before, so the emergent feeling was heightened."
Jessica Pilcher, United Way's community programs director in Chattanooga, said the situation at the Budgetel, though unexpected, hasn't been more than the agency could handle.
"We've provided more than $100,000 in emergency financial assistance to 107 adults and 64 children from 69 households" displaced from the Budgetel, she said, adding that much of that money has come from a combination of funds that will be known as of Jan. 1 as United Way's Bridge Fund.
Pilcher said United Way will stay ready to provide any assistance it can as the Budgetel fallout continues to affect individuals and families but was quick to add the agency's impact has been -- and will continue to be -- enhanced exponentially by what she called its collaborations around the city.
"We're always willing to step in at a crisis and help clients with immediate needs," she said, "but it's important to emphasize that we don't do this alone."
(READ MORE: Times Free Press Neediest Cases Fund 'changed life' of Hixson's Bryant Ellis)
So while Walker got the short-term help she needed, she's facing another deadline: $700 for another month's rent, due Sunday.
"I'm still struggling to come up with the money," she said. "I'm working on getting a job -- child care is difficult, but I'm working on it.
"If I have to donate plasma, I will," Walker said. "I'm anemic, so I'm not supposed to, but I've worked so hard to get where I am, and I've got three small children to take care of 24/7."
The Times Free Press Neediest Cases Fund was started in 1914 by Adolph Ochs, then the publisher of the Chattanooga Times. The Fund receives donations from Times Free Press readers. Money is administered and distributed to individuals and families in need by the United Way of Greater Chattanooga and partner agencies. Recipients must be working or on a fixed income and be able to demonstrate ongoing stability and self-sufficiency after receiving Neediest Cases funds.
The Neediest Cases Fund took in $81,000 last year that was distributed by United Way of Greater Chattanooga and its partner agencies to 79 adults and 61 children in 54 households, according to United Way figures.
Contact Bob Gary at bgary@timesfreepress.com.