May 16, 2026
CITYHOUSE
A Path to Independence and Hope
When a mother experiences housing instability, the impact reaches far beyond her. Children feel the uncertainty, routines disappear, and the path toward stability becomes harder to see. CityHouse was created to interrupt that cycle by providing safe housing and comprehensive support for single mothers and their children who are experiencing homelessness or crisis.
CityHouse is a nonprofit residential program that provides stable housing while equipping families with the tools they need to rebuild their lives. Mothers and children live on CityHouse campuses where they receive more than just a place to stay. Each family is surrounded by a community of support that focuses on long-term stability, healing, and independence.
In addition to safe housing, families receive essential supportive services such as mental health counseling, financial literacy and budgeting classes, parenting support, and other life skills designed to help mothers build lasting stability for themselves and their children.
Families entering CityHouse often carry the weight of uncertainty, but within the program, they are met with structure, encouragement, and a community that believes in their future. Through individualized case management, mothers set goals that focus on employment, education, financial stability, and family wellness. Children benefit from a safe environment where they can focus on school, build healthy routines, and grow emotionally in a place that finally feels secure.
Today, CityHouse provides housing and supportive services for 27 mothers and 57 children across its campuses. Through this model, families move from crisis toward stability and independence. Mothers graduate from the program with the life skills, financial knowledge, and confidence needed to maintain housing and provide a secure future for their children. Graduates remain connected through the CityHouse Alumni Care Program, which continues to provide community, guidance, and support.
My story is one example of the impact CityHouse can have on a family. I entered the program as a young single mother seeking stability and a safe place for my daughter and me. CityHouse became more than a roof over our heads. It became the place where healing began, where hope returned, and where I was reminded that our story was not defined by our struggles but by the future we could build.
With CityHouse’s support, I was able to focus on my education, build my confidence, and lay a stable foundation for my daughter’s life. I graduated from Florida Atlantic University while in the program and later returned to CityHouse as a staff member. Today, I serve as the Associate Development Director, helping ensure that other mothers and children can access the same support that once changed my life.
When I reflect on my journey, I often think about how CityHouse helped transform what once felt like uncertainty into a story of resilience and gratitude. What began as a search for stability became the beginning of a new future for my family. CityHouse does more than provide shelter. It restores hope, builds community, and helps families believe that a better tomorrow is possible.
THROWING SEED
Adams Sunday was 13 when his village tried to kill him. He’s spent every year since proving God had other plans.As a child in Kwall, Nigeria, he carried water to the fields, played with the neighborhood children, and loved soccer. Childhood was, as Adams remembered it, happy.
His father fell ill when he was 10. His illness stretched past months, into years, without explanation. And so, when a witch doctor offered one, people listened: Adams was the cause.
The accusation moved through the village fast. Neighbors kept their children away. They attacked him with sticks and burning charcoal. He slept in the market and shops to escape the blame. “I was giving up hope,” he said, “Struggling to survive.”
July 18th, 2008 is a day that Adams will never forget. Men in the village, at his grandfather’s request, tried to murder him. They took him to a house, hung him from the rafters, and left him to die. Adams was only 13.
It was only by God’s grace that a woman in the house heard him, cut him down, and helped him escape to Jos.
That evening, Adams arrived at King’s Kids, the orphanage supported by Throwing Seeds. When Adams arrived, the orphanage was full. Yet, when the director saw Adams, he said: “We have to take him.”
Since opening, King’s Kids has moved 10,000 vulnerable children, like Adams, through a continuum of care: an assessment center, a care center, and a transition house. Adams entered the assessment center terrified, always looking for a place to hide.
A mentor at King’s Kids, Joseph, paid particular attention to Adams because of what he’d survived. For Adams it was like having a father again, someone who cared for him spiritually, emotionally, and psychologically. Adams says he was like the lost sheep…and Joseph, like Jesus, left his flock of 99 to save him. He said, “I was able to experience my childhood again and the love that I hadn’t had in a long time.”
At King’s Kids, Adams grew. He moved through secondary school, as have 4,000 other children at King’s Kids, and earned a diploma in communications. He started university to complete his bachelor’s degree, walking a path that 210 other children have. After leaving King’s Kids, he became the sports director at the ministry, one of 500 children that Kings Kids has helped find meaningful employment. He nurtures lost sheep, just as Joseph had with him.
When Adams went back to Kwall, a young man recognized him. The community gathered, shocked and afraid that Adams was still alive. Adams connected the way he always has. He played soccer with the village kids.
Following reconciliation with his village, Adams wanted to find a way to give back. He knew that the women had to walk long distances for water, so he organized the team at Throwing Seeds to dig a borehole well. King’s Kids rescued the lost sheep, and the lost sheep brought living water back to his flock.
Expanding Access to Education for Girls
Growing up in a mud hut in South Sudan, Vina witnessed loss early and often. Even the most basic medical care was out of reach. She watched women in her village die in childbirth—tragically common in a country with the world’s highest maternal mortality rate. One day, after witnessing such a loss, she made a quiet resolve: she would become a nurse and serve her community.
But in South Sudan, that path is rarely open to girls. A girl is more likely to die before age five than to finish primary school, and more than half are forced into marriage as children.
Vina’s mother, who never attended school, worked day and night to keep her daughter in primary school. She believed education could change Vina’s future and allow her to help support her six younger siblings.
Vina attended St. Bakhita Girls’ Primary School, the only all-girl primary school in the country. Supported by Mercy Beyond Borders (MBB), the school offers more than education. Now with a nurse, IT teacher, dorm, and computer lab, it has become a safe place for more than 1,000 girls–many escaping forced marriages.
Vina excelled in primary school, but when she finished, there was no clear path forward—until she was awarded a scholarship from MBB to high school and then nursing school.
Through MBB’s case-management model—combining scholarships, counseling, tutoring, home visits and leadership training—Vina persevered in the face of unimaginable challenges. Her primary school was bombed twice. She lived through years of civil war. In nursing school, two of her classmates were killed by armed rebels.
Against all odds, Vina completed her nursing degree—part of the 97% of MBB-supported Scholars who complete higher education, and among the 87% who gain employment or continue with further study. Across South Sudan, few girls graduate from primary school—let alone go on to high school and beyond.
After graduation, she returned to her rural village as a qualified nurse.
She now works at a local clinic, seeing up to 100 patients a day. During the rainy season, she walks for three hours to reach the clinic. Through her care and daily health education, she has witnessed a reduction of preventable deaths in her community.
She also gives back. Vina tutors younger students, serves as Chairlady of the PTA at her former high school, and leads the MBB alumnae network in her region. In a culture where girls are still valued less than cattle, she educates her community about the benefits of educating girls.
“Because educating a girl is like educating the whole world,” she shared.
Now a mother, Vina will prioritize education for her own daughter, breaking the intergenerational cycle of extreme poverty.
Vina is one of over 100 young women in South Sudan who have completed higher education through MBB. They are improving their communities as nurses, teachers, social workers, and more. Thousands more are following behind her.
The accompanying video shares Vina’s story, completely unscripted. Learn more at www.mercybeyondborders.org
AMIGOS FOR CHRIST
Building Health, Confidence, and Hope
Maryam Oviedo started at the Amigos Academy in Nicaragua as a level one preschooler in 2022. She lives in a rural community in Nicaragua with her parents and two younger siblings. Though she was a sweet and well-behaved child, Maryam rarely finished her meals and was malnourished. She suffered from immense anxiety, not allowing her instructors to approach her and struggling to make friends with other students.
Our health staff worked one-on-one with Maryam and her family, ruling out any medical concerns that could be the root of her malnutrition and developing strategies to increase her consumption of nourishing foods. Over the course of the 2025 school year, thanks to a specialized nutrition plan and her work with the school psychologist, Maryam gained weight and moved from malnourished to underweight to now being in the optimal nutrition range.
Maryam is thriving at mealtimes and in the classroom now, and her parents are grateful for the intervention of the Student Health & Nutrition Program at the Amigos Academy for walking alongside and supporting Maryam’s health journey.
Pulte Family Charitable Foundation
Pulte Family Charitable Foundation
Pulte Family Charitable Foundation
