JACKSON, Mich. — A local mom is having a Merry Christmas after a year of homelessness.
Alexis Schlaff started December at the lowest point in her life. She was searching for a place for her kids to call home during the holidays when she was scammed by a "renter."
Schlaff lost $480 trying to rent a home for her family.
Now, with the help of the community, she and her family finally have a place to call home and a living room full of Christmas gifts.
On Wednesday, Schlaff reflected over all she'd been through.
"It was so hard for a year where it was wondering where we were going to eat next, or if we were going to have a room to stay in at the hotel if we had the money for it because it was so expensive, and just surviving every single day struggling and trying to make it to the next day," said Schlaff.
After posting about her misfortunes on Facebook, Schlaff says the support from the Jackson community was overwhelming. A landlord offered a discount so her family could move in and the community donated almost everything inside.
"We've gotten help with Christmas gifts, we were given like this couch I'm sitting on right now, this TV in my living room, our beds, our dressers, clothing, food, all of the stuff in the kitchen," Schlaff said. "Every time I cook, anytime I do anything in this house really, I'm thinking of the people that helped us because they helped us put our home together."
From sleeping in her car and walking around Meijer to stay warm, to now having a place of her own for her four kids, Schlaff said it doesn't feel real.
"I'm just blown away honestly how much everybody has come together and helped us because of like I said, it was so rough for a year. It kinda makes you feel alone, really alone," Schlaff said. "So to have all these people with their encouraging words and helping hands, it's just unreal is the best way I can put it."
This year she's counting her blessings and super thankful for the little things.
"The best Christmas gift I've ever had," Schlaff said. "For us and for our kids to have a home this Christmas. I just want to thank everybody that helped us, that shared our post, that prayed for us, that thought about us because we literally came from the lowest points of our lives to having a home now and are a family. It wouldn't have been possible without help from everybody."
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