Courtney Pankey said she was taking her 5-year-old son, Cypris, and 3-year-old daughter, Alisa, out for a bite to eat late last summer when it happened.
"My son asked me why we had to keep going from place to place all the time," said the 25-year-old Rhea County native. "All I could think to say to him was, 'Mama's trying, baby. Mama's trying.' Later, after I put them to bed, I just started crying. My son's just at the age where he understands some of what's going on, but I wasn't expecting that."
Pankey said by mid-September, she and her kids had been homeless for about a year, paying friends and family for rooms when she could.
"I worked the whole time," she said, "but I just couldn't make enough to get a place. Waitresses don't make that much, and you can't count on tips."
Pankey said it crossed a line for her when her son asked his question. She called the United Way of Rhea County and got help from the Times Free Press Neediest Cases Fund.
"I knew I had to do whatever I could, and I finally found a place," she said. "I asked if (United Way) had grants for help, and they said they did. I sent them all my information, and it really didn't take very long. They were very nice, very understanding, very polite. If not for them, I wouldn't have gotten this place."
Pankey said she'd managed to save enough for a deposit. The Neediest Cases money took care of her first month's rent, and she said she's managed for the past three months.
"It's good," she said. "I'm still not fully settled in. I'm waiting for my mom to come and decorate."
Pankey added she and her mom, Angel Hickman, are dealing this Christmas with the death of her stepfather, Bobby Hickman, who she said died in a "bad car accident" just two weeks ago.
"We didn't like sharing mom," she said with a chuckle, "but he stepped up and walked me down the aisle."
So would Pankey be happy to get the door for 2022 as it makes way for 2023?
"Yes, definitely," she said.
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.
According to United Way figures, the Neediest Cases Fund took in $81,000 last year and, in turn, helped 79 adults and 61 children in 54 households. Neediest Cases money went in 2020 to 60 adults and 40 children in 42 households.
Contact Bob Gary at bgary@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6731.