For the first time in nearly three years, Jeannie slept without fear. Today, she’s thriving—proof of what’s possible when people are given safety, dignity, and room to breathe… literally and figuratively. 

Jeannie didn’t realize how hard living on the streets had been until she sat on her bed in the women’s wing of the Boulder Ready to Work house and cried. That November night was the first time in nearly three years she didn’t need to stay on alert—wondering where she would sleep, or if she would be safe.

“I took the biggest breath I had taken in a long time,” she said.

Korean American and born in Seoul to a military family, Jeannie moved to Texas as a toddler and grew up in Austin. She spent more than two decades working toward a career in nursing—first as a medical assistant, then a phlebotomist, and later an LVN. After a serious car accident, she was prescribed Vicodin, just as opioids were hitting the streets. Addiction followed.

“As a nurse, I had access,” she said. “I was taking 120 tablets in a 16- to 20-hour span. I needed two to wake up, two to get out of bed, and after that it went downhill. I should have died in my 20s—but by God’s grace, I’m alive.”

In 2021, while on a path to recovery, Jeannie and her then-wife moved to Colorado for a fresh start. They invested their life savings into a rent-to-own home in Louisville and signed into contract on December 31. Later that day the Marshall Fire destroyed everything—their house, their savings, their car, their relationship.

“I could have reached out to my family,” Jeannie said. “But my pride got in the way.”

She spent the next few years unhoused in Boulder and Longmont, struggling with addiction. A former Bridge House client—her boyfriend at the time—encouraged her to apply to Ready to Work. After detox, she returned and committed fully.

“This program changed my life,” she said. “It helped me realize I’m not broken—that I can be part of society again. I feel safe. I feel okay.”

Jeannie began on the outdoor crew, becoming a lead, then worked on the rez crew. On Fridays, she picked up extra shifts at Community Table Kitchen—and found her place.

She graduated from Ready to Work in October 2025 and now works on staff at the Kitchen, where she finds joy in watching others grow. Especially other women in the program.

“People are amazing,” she said. “I used to hate people. Now I love them again. I want to stay as long as they’ll have me.”