Portrait of Jeny

"There's so many things going wrong with homeless kids inside the schools and everywhere else because of the emotional strain that's based on what's taking place inside of the family," Medina says. "If I can reach the youth in an emotional area where they can find emotional healing, then it's easier for them to see how it plays a part in how they react to education and to their peers. I look at how they are spiritually and how they are emotionally, because those are the two key ingredients to get healing in any other area in their lives. Putting that foundation underneath their feet, giving them a desire to fulfill dreams and to fulfill their goals, none of that could've happened if not for Carmen and Jeny knowing where God was in their life."

When a staffer knocked on the door and asked Rosy for a UA, Rosy told her daughters that she had to pee in a cup.

"Ewwwwwww," Jeny said.

After Rosy came out clean, she called Sam. "Hey, you better drink some water, dude," she said. "Drink something, because they're asking for a UA."

Then she turned to Jeny and told her why her father would test dirty. A few nights before, he'd gotten off work and stopped at a bar on Colfax for a few drinks. Someone had offered him a line of cocaine, and Sam had snorted it. But coke doesn't affect Sam like crack, so the kids couldn't tell he was high.

Sam tried to dodge the test, but the staff found him that night. He tested positive, and the family was told to leave the Crossing. Sam and Rosy didn't argue. It was tax season and they'd gotten a refund, so they opted to move to an apartment.

When Jeny and Carmen went to say goodbye to Mr. Dave, they talked about forgiveness. Again.

While her family moved into their new place, fifteen-year-old Jeny went to her first rock concert. When she got home, she found Carmen asleep on the floor. Her parents were still awake, obviously high.

Well, at the new place, things just got stranger. There was no furniture. My parents would just sit in our living room and just stare at a TV with no sound, watching paid programming. What I loved most is that all we would do all day was play outside with our new friends, eat soup and go to bed. It was like I didn't even have parents. They didn't know anything that was going on with me and my sister. There was no communication.

Jeny knew her parents needed help, and they weren't getting it while locked inside their unfurnished apartment, which was "so ghetto." Not only was there no furniture, but there was no shampoo, and Jeny had to wash her hair with laundry detergent. At least Rudy was older now and could play outside with other kids, which meant she and Carmen could spent time with kids their own age.

After two months, Sam and Rosy realized they had to try to clean up their act. They applied to return to the Crossing, and case managers there concluded that the family deserved a second chance. The Crossing is usually willing to give families a break, as long as their finances are in order and they don't have a record of defiance. But staffers say the Martinez family seemed particularly worthy because of their will to succeed, their positive energy and their determination not to allow their past to overcome who they can become. This time, though, Rosy and Sam had to comply with stricter rules, including weekly rather than monthly assessments. Drug tests were more frequent, too, and Sam had to submit to a test three times in one week. Rehabilitation classes were also part of the plan, though Sam often got out of them because he was working so much at a new landscaping job.

This past summer, Jeny and Carmen were two of a dozen Crossing residents who went to a week-long Christian camp in Missouri. The girls had to practically be pried away from their parents; Jeny even dropped a tear or two.

Jeny's never cried much. But at camp, as she thought about what her family had endured, she broke down, bawling. "And then afterward I felt better," she admits.

There were more than a thousand kids in attendance, and Carmen received one of the camp's highest honors: for putting God and other people before herself.

The week apart was hard on everyone. Carmen and Jeny couldn't even call their parents, and their reunion was joyous.