Originally published April 15, 2022 on The Mom Inspirer. This piece has been lightly edited for clarity and republished here.
Some of the most powerful stories are those of people who turn difficult experiences into a reason to serve others.
When I first spoke with Crissi Bates in 2022, she was a single mother, graduate student, and founder of Jackson House Milwaukee Inc., an organization created to support people experiencing homelessness and help strengthen the Milwaukee community.
Crissi’s own life had given her an intimate understanding of what it means to face difficult circumstances.
Having grown up in the foster care system, she knew what it felt like to be confronted with assumptions about what her future might look like.
“I have constantly had to battle the system and defy the statistics usually placed upon so many dealing with similar issues,” Crissi said.
Instead of allowing those experiences to define what was possible for her, Crissi used them as motivation.
In 2018, she founded Jackson House Milwaukee with a goal of improving her community one good deed at a time.
Her work reflected something I have always found meaningful: sometimes the places where we have struggled the most become the very places where we feel called to help someone else.
At the time of our conversation, Crissi was also working toward her master’s degree while raising her son.
“Being a single mom in college is hard, but it’s not a bad thing,” she said. “In fact, it’s one of the best parts about my life.”
Balancing motherhood, school, community work, and her own personal growth continued to teach her lessons about responsibility, time management, relationships, and managing stress.
Her son was also one of her greatest sources of motivation.
During our conversation, Crissi reflected on something many mothers understand well: the enormous amount of work that goes unseen.
She talked about the mental and physical load mothers often carry and the importance of intentionally making room for themselves in the middle of caring for everyone else.
For Crissi, self-care did not have to be complicated. It could be a quiet walk, regular exercise, a hot bath, or simply having time to yourself.
Her message was simple: taking time for yourself does not make you less committed to your family or your responsibilities. It can help you return to them with more energy and presence.
What stayed with me most about Crissi’s story was her resilience.
Her experiences in foster care, single motherhood, education, and community work were not separate pieces of her life. Together, they shaped how she understood struggle, service, and possibility.
Her story is also a reminder that resilience is not simply about surviving difficult circumstances.
Sometimes resilience looks like taking what you have lived through and using it to make the road a little easier for someone coming behind you.
Thank you, Crissi, for trusting me with a piece of your story.
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