A Survivor's Story: Amanda Fleming

CFVC is the largest transitional housing complex for victims of domestic violence in the country. That being said, we see hundreds of women and children come through our doors. One of those women was Amanda, who came to live with us in December, 2005. Amanda had been run over by a car driven by her husband. She was pregnant with her third child at the time and nearly lost the baby. She and the baby survived, and after a few months of recovering she came to live at CFVC in our transitional apartments.

She was just 25 years old and had three little girls, ages 4, 2 and 5 months old. She was working 2 jobs and attending school, all while taking care of her three children. While Amanda was living here, she went through her share of difficult times. She attended our support groups and classes and was quick to realize what she needed to do to begin healing.

Her case manager was an incredible source of strength and support for her, encouraging her to continue her education and persevere. Amanda’s luck was beginning to turn around…she was fortunate enough to have a vehicle donated to her, she was able to drop down to working just one job now while taking advantage of our rent assistance program and focus on finishing her schooling. Amanda graduated from Appalachian Technical College as Valedictorian with her LPN. She has been working in hospitals ever since, and even was able to accept an 8 month externship in Chicago to study Oncology Nursing. She moved out of CFVC just 2 years after moving in (the women have 3 years to live here).

She is now fully independent and working at Northside Hospital in Atlanta. She just bought her first new car, and is getting ready to move into a home. Her three girls keep her very busy. She is gradually taking classes towards her RN license. When asked what CFVC did to help her get through her situation, Amanda feels that our organization offered her support at every turn, as well as protection when she needed it. “Somebody always had my back”. Amanda is a great example of what a strong woman can do in the face of adversity, and CFVC is proud to call her one of our Graduates.