A Family's Journey
How One Family Found Real Help from Christians who Cared

by Billie Silvey

Inez Cabrillo lived with her husband and two sons in the desert, where her husband made, sold, and took drugs. At first, Inez had shared in his lifestyle, but as the years passed, it became less and less satisfying to her. One summer night she determined to make a change. But what could she do? Her husband had threatened her and her boys if she tried to leave.

Still, while her husband was out, Inez gathered her sons, slipped out of the house, and escaped to Los Angeles with nothing but the clothes on their backs. There, she came in contact with Billie Silvey and the Culver Palms Church of Christ Life Skills Lab. Billie gave Inez clothing from the Back-to-Work Boutique, one of the support services the church provided for their job training ministry. Inez was thrilled to find three or four nice outfits that fit her, but she was even more excited to learn about Life Skills Lab and the free job training classes offered there. She signed up for the ten-week session beginning that fall.

Inez would take her sons to school, then come to Life Skills Lab classes, where she pursued her dream of becoming a bus driver. It wasn’t easy. One of her sons, Joshua, was having trouble in school. Many days her classes would be interrupted by calls from the school. Finally, Joshua had gone too far, and they kicked him out of class.

There was no choice but to stay at home until she could find a place for him, but no one would take an out-of-control eight-year-old who had been diagnosed manic depressive. She explored a number of options without success. Meanwhile, Life Skills Lab was continuing without her. She realized that she had to drop out.

Billie was concerned both about Joshua, who was supposed to be in school somewhere and needed more professional help than his mother could offer, and about Inez, who was falling behind in her plans to be able to support herself and her children. She contacted a man she’d met through an agency collaborative. Eli Lefferman was an administrator at Vista Del Mar Child and Family Services. Vista had a residential facility for troubled youth and a school. She talked with Lefferman about Inez’s problem, and he agreed to admit Joshua to his program.

Inez was thrilled with the help Joshua was receiving at Vista. Finally, she was able to relax and get back to her own studies. When she enrolled in the next Life Skills Lab session, Billie offered to let her take up where she’d left off in the previous session, but Inez wanted to start again from the beginning. “I don’t want to miss anything,” she said. She attended every class, did all the work, and graduated.

Then she started to train for her license to drive a bus. She passed not just the standard driving test, but air brakes and transporting disabled children and got a job with ERAS Center, a local school for disabled children. She’d drive the children to school in the mornings, then go in and help the teachers until time to take the children home in the afternoons.

A few months later, she decided to try for a bus driving job at Vista, where Joshua was attending school. She was hired there. Before long, Joshua left Vista to live at home and attend regular school. Inez was thrilled.

The last I heard from her, she had been accepted for a position at Vista as a Parent Partner, counseling with parents who were going through what she had. She had her own private office, was making a salary as large as mine, and was overjoyed with her progress. I was, too. Inez was one of our outstanding successes, showing the power of God to work in the lives of people who are ready to make a change. What a privilege to be able to serve others in his name and share the satisfaction such progress brings.