‘I can be that light’

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Posted February 18, 2022 | By James Blevins
james@ocalagazette.com

Everything changed in Jessica Forlaw’s life following her arrest for driving under the influence on Nov. 16, 2020. It was the last straw in a series of traffic infractions and other run-ins with the law that had been following her over the last two decades.

She lost her car, her job, her home, and even custody of her children.

“I pretty much lost everything all in one day,” she said.

Forlaw, now 39, took her most recent misfortune from 15 months ago as a God-given sign to make some serious changes in her life.

“I never knew that I would find myself in a situation like this,” said Forlaw of being newly homeless. “But suddenly, there I was, traveling from couch to couch with nowhere else to go.”

It wasn’t until she discovered The Salvation Army Florida Center of Hope in Ocala that she learned there were resources available to her to help put her life back together again.

“They’ve helped me so much,” said Forlaw of Salvation Army. “Their resources and their patience—it’s amazing to have the support that they have given me.”

A native of New Orleans, Forlaw moved to Florida with her family when she was just four-years-old. She moved to Ocala and bought a home with the father of her children in 2003. They would later separate in 2013.

Forlaw completed her probation for the 2020 DUI arrest and has been staying at the Center of Hope for the last seven months, rebuilding the foundation of her life from the ground up.

Losing custody of her children was hard to bear, but she still sees them. For now, the children are in the care of their maternal grandmother.

“I’m fighting to gain my rights back,” Forlaw said. “I am praying for unification and just moving on as a family.”

She hopes to return to school and become a positive part of society again, Forlaw said, but she knows she has a long road ahead.

“I want to become the woman that I’m supposed to be; that I need to be,” she said. “Every part of my journey has been a learning experience. Everything I’ve learned from this I’ve applied to bettering who I am.”

On a typical day, Forlaw said she wakes up and studies before getting ready for work at Miller’s Ale House, where she is a server on the evening shift.

“I get back [to Center of Hope] around 1:30 a.m., then I relax, settle in, get back up in the morning and do it all over again,” she said.

Currently, Forlaw is in the process of looking for a home.

“The Salvation Army has resources for me to get a low-income voucher,” she said. “I’m just waiting for that to go through. And hopefully it’ll go through soon.”

Forlaw said she understands how people might view her mistakes in life, assuming she will never get better or rise above that November night in 2020. But she insisted that she will, adding that it’s all she’s been working towards since finding the Salvation Army almost a year ago.

“My family has lowered their trust when it comes to me,” she said. “So, I have to build that all back up. But I want to show my family, as well as show myself, that I can be that positive influence. I can be that light.”

“Whether it takes hardships to find it,” she added. “It’s possible. I have to believe that.”

Editors’ note: This is the third of an on-going series of profiles meant to humanize the homeless within the City of Ocala. Through this series, we hope to put a human face on an issue that is often “otherized” or simply pushed out of sight.