Susan Gray is proof that you should never stop trying.`
After years of substance abuse that alternated with treatment facilities, her family had written her off.
Her son, Damien, was a teenager in the Marine Corps when he learned about her latest relapse.
“At that point, I just kind of wrote her off,” he said recently.
Susan Gray ended up at Home of Grace in Gautier where Diane Easley was the director of women’s services.
“Sue was literally dropped off,” Easley said. “And she was in really bad shape.”
Many years later, Easley founded Community Care Network in Jackson County, Miss.
“Sue had always begged me to start a place for women when they had come from incarceration or come from treatment,” Easley said. “They needed a place to go as a second step.”
In 2005, Sue began working at the facility, becoming CCN’s first employee. But less than two years later, Sue died.
Easley renamed the transitional housing facility “Sue’s Home.”
Sue’s son, Damien, recently brought his family to Sue’s Home in Gautier to celebrate her legacy. See the full video of Sue and Diane and Damien’s journey on our YouTube channel.
Go to opendoorshc.org to learn about the Open Doors Homeless Coalition’s Continuum of Care, a network of agencies that is working to prevent, reduce and eventually eliminate homelessness in South Mississippi.
