TAMPA, Fla. — Demetria Walls enters a house near Ybor City, but this place is more than just a roof and rooms. This is Hillsborough House of Hope.
"Hillsborough House of Hope is a perfect name for this organization and for what we’re doing,” director Linda Walker said.
Hillsborough House of Hope is a Christian-based not-for-profit. It operates three transitional shelters for women who have been in jail or prison. Many of the women, like Walls, are recovering drug addicts. Pills cost Walls everything.
“I had the house, the two cars, the good life, the sobriety, the travel,” describes Walls, who left her successful career to care for her mother who was dying of cancer. After that, Walls describes going into a deep depression where besides her personal possessions, she also lost the will to live.
“I didn’t use to get high. I used to not wake up. I wanted to die,” Walls said.
At Hillsborough House of Hope, Walls has found the support she needs. The group provides an affordable place to stay, counseling and people like Walker who has walked down the same bumpy road.
“There’s not anything any of the women in any of the houses can tell me that they’ve done that I have not experienced,” Walker said.
A string of mug shots from the Hillsborough County Jail shows Walker in the late 90s at her low point. She says she was addicted to cocaine, homeless and at one point even sold to a man for a thousand dollars.
Back then, House of Hope’s founder Margaret Palmer visited Walker in jail, eventually putting her on a better path. And now Walker works to save others.
“Who better to help these women get to the next level, than someone who’s done that and been there?” she said.
The next step in Walls’ journey is finding a job. She spends hours each day on her computer looking for openings and applying for jobs.
On her bedroom wall is a “vision poster” that she created. There are cutout photos of a loving couple, a house, a pet. Walls isn’t sure what the future holds, but the major change in her life right now is that she wants a future.
“I can’t see it, but I know I’m going to be in it,” she said. “I’m finally glad to be alive.”
10 Tampa Bay and our parent company TEGNA’s Foundation are proud to support Hillsborough House of Hope with a $2,000 grant.