Nubia Caballero doesn't know where she would be without Camillus House, a Miami Florida faith-based organization. "I don't even want to think about it." She just knows that thanks to Camillus House she and her adult daughter, Dinora, who was born with cerebral palsy, have a safe and suitable home.

For 20 years Nubia worked in a factory in New York while her mother took care of young Dinora, but after the grandmother's death, things began to fall apart. Nubia moved to Miami but she could not work full time and care for Dinora, whose special needs require round the clock attention. "I depleted my savings," says Nubia. "I couldn't work because my Dinora needed me all day long." After all of Nubia's savings were exhausted, there came the eviction notice, and the very real prospect of being out on the street with her disabled daughter.

Nubia and Dinora Caballero.

When things looked the bleakest for Nubia, she found a beacon in Camillus House, a non-profit organization that provides food, shelter, housing, rehabilitative treatment, and health care for those in need in Miami. Nubia and Dinora found housing at Camillus House's Somerville Apartments, a place for formerly homeless women and children. 

Since it first opened in April 2001, Somerville has received $125,000 annually from HUD's Supportive Housing Program. The grant provides operating and supportive services funds for the program.

Today Nubia and Dinora live happily in their Somerville apartment, with Dinora enjoying a quality of life that would have been impossible in South Florida without Camillus House's help. The Somerville Housing program also offers a number of services for residents including tutoring, educational/vocational training, childcare, parenting classes, credit counseling, and more. Nubia and Dinora particularly enjoy two services offered by Somerville: the healthcare program which ensures that quality healthcare-including dental, pediatrics, optometry, and women's health are available to all resident of Somerville in the nearby Camillus House clinic-and the urban garden program where residents can grow fruits, vegetables and flowers. "The garden also gives us personal satisfaction and fresh air."

"Camillus House has given me the joy and peace of having my very own home," says Nubia. "They treat us with compassion and love. I am very grateful to the people here."