Sarah Foster, St. Louis Dream Center Assistant
Queen of the hill, she had everything at her fingertips. She was the star of her college’s women’s basketball team. A career in the WNBA seemed all but certain. She was on top of the world, and nothing was going to bring her down. But sometimes life has a way of knocking us to our knees…that’s what the rape did to her. That’s what two basketball-related injuries did to her. She gave up, she let go. She succumbed to the humbling blows that came her way.
Fast forward to today – past the years she spent as a drug dealer, past the years of depression, past the moment when she was asked to leave her sister’s house because she couldn’t kick her drug habit. Today, you’ll find the former queen of the hill serving others at the St. Louis Dream Center as a volunteer in the food pantry.
“Good morning!” she says cheerfully as the next client walks past the desk with a grocery cart. She carefully gathers the food items and hands them over with a friendly smile. When watching her, it’s almost as if she were born for this.
In fact, she was in the grocery business for eleven years, much of that time managing stores throughout the southeast. This is her “niche.” It’s apparent this isn’t just a woman fresh off the streets, working hard to leave the drugs in her past; you see her as something more. You begin to see her as God sees her: A woman with hope and a future. A woman with a smile. A woman with joy. A woman who has found a family and a home.
Meet Kasha Doomes. Right now she may be “homeless,” bouncing from friend’s house to friend’s house as she diligently works to get her life back in order, but that doesn’t mean she doesn’t have a home. When asked to describe the Dream Center in one word, “inspirational” is what immediately comes from her mouth.
“This place feels like family, it feels like home. Sometimes I don’t want to leave at the end of the day, but I know I have to.” She hopes to one day open a home or facility that will help women who have experienced similar difficult situations in their lives. She wants to take the inspiration she has received from the Dream Center and pass it along to others in need. She would also like to write a book.
What would she say to someone that is considering volunteering at the Dream Center? “It’s a good environment. Being here will not only teach you a lot about other people; it will teach you about yourself. It will help you to see who you really are if you don’t already know.”
Kasha needed something positive, a better place to be. She needed somewhere to invest her time, a good environment. When it seemed like her life couldn’t get any darker, a friend introduced her to the Dream Center and volunteering. She was in search of doing something good with her time. In turn, she found inspiration. She found hope. She found a family.
She found home.
Hand of Hope is the missions arm of Joyce Meyer Ministries. Our goal is simply to help as many hurting people as we possibly can, to alleviate human suffering and to help Christians grow in their faith.
