“When Antonella and I met, we had no common language,” remembers Joshua Station volunteer Emily McNamara. “We looked at books, pointing out words.” But teen resident Antonella was eager, engaging, and bright. “I have never seen anyone learn English so fast.”

In their tutoring sessions, Antonella and Emily worked mostly on math—since other subjects came easily. In addition to math challenges, Antonella faced discrimination and other obstacles at school. “Her positivity and maturity, even in middle school, amazed me. She would tell me a hard story and say, ‘I cried about it and now I’m fine. I get to try school again tomorrow and I’m excited.’ She finds good things through hardships.”

This past fall, all of Joshua Station celebrated when artistically-gifted Antonella was accepted into a competitive high school program at Denver School of the Arts.

Paul Presberg, Emily’s fiancé, shares a parallel story of mutual transformation with Kort—another young Joshua Station resident. “Kort has been huge in my life; he’s become like a friend even though he’s eight,” Paul says. “We were paired perfectly. I’m energetic and have a hard time sitting still. Kort did 50 sit-ups the first time we met.” Kort has an active mind to match. “He does a really good job with complexity—his brain loves complex questions and tasks. We work with science experiment kits, and they are tough. He crushes it.”

Kort also faces big life challenges. “His world turned upside down with his diabetes diagnosis. He developed eye problems. He was tired, down, and sad. It was hard to watch,” says Paul. “Kort’s little brother Dylan always asks me to pray for his brother and family, including for their dad who is in jail. Their mom goes through a lot.” Paul is learning from this family about joy through tough circumstances. “I’m glad to see that Kort’s body and spirit are adjusting and coming back.”

Emily and Paul’s involvement in commercial real estate prompts them to think about community-building in the built environment. Reading the Bible, especially gospel stories about Jesus, especially prompts them to consider people in poverty. They love generously donating to MHM, in addition to their firsthand relationships here.

“We tell friends how getting involved fills us up.” Someone might expect that being with people coming from homelessness is depressing. Just the opposite! It’s fun, it’s energizing, it’s the most joyful part of our week. It’s been a game changer for us.”