She lost her home in a brush with violence. ‘I’m still standing,’ she says. ‘I am a fighter’
What started out as an ordinary workday for Falicia Douglas, a 50-year-old single mother of three, quickly turned into a living nightmare that would leave her homeless.
Douglas was born in Puerto Rico. Her youngest son, 16, lives with his father. Her two daughters, 25 and 30, are grown and living on their own. She has been a loyal employee of Curley’s House Food Bank in Miami for five years. She started as a volunteer and quickly worked her way up to the position of senior program director.
It was her sunny disposition and uplifting attitude that captured the attention of Lavern Spicer, founder of Curley’s. These days, Douglas helps to serve over 1,000 homeless people daily from all walks of life.
“Falicia is so dedicated to helping others,” Spicer said. “She’s there at the food bank sometimes from 5 a.m. to 9 p.m. getting bags ready for the homeless and the community. She works extra hard to make sure that everyone is taken care of through her selfless acts of humanity.”
This nonprofit agency where she works has nominated her for help from Wish Book, a holiday fundraising drive held annually by the Miami Herald to support South Floridians in need, after that nightmarish day.
Douglas, who speaks, reads and writes fluently in English and Spanish, has become an invaluable asset to the organization, Spicer said.
While on the job, Douglas came to know a frequent visitor to Curley’s House. Their day-to-day interactions led to romance.
On the morning of Aug. 11, Douglas and her boyfriend of three years warmly exchanged greetings as she hurriedly set out for work. But it wasn’t long before she started receiving text messages from him, demanding that she ask her boss for money and that she bring home a case of beer.
Douglas grew more concerned when she received a text saying, “Did you get it? Make sure you have it before you get home. Don’t come home without it.”
She hardly recognized the man texting her.
Before going home, she went to a doctor’s appointment for an MRI on her fractured foot, the result of an accident a month earlier. Away from her phone, she was unaware of the escalating, incoming messages. Once she checked her phone and realized that his agitation had grown significantly, Douglas became terrified.
”In my head I was thinking, ‘Oh my God, what am I going to go through now?’’’
At home, she found her boyfriend impatiently waiting at the door. He demanded to use her phone to call a friend for drugs. His anger grew when his phone calls weren’t answered. Douglas said she tried to deescalate the situation by offering to make him dinner. When she overheard him talking to himself, she ignored it.
“Next thing you know, BOOM,’’ Douglas said. “He drops the plate on the ground and breaks it, spilling the dinner I had just cooked him.”
Douglas’ boyfriend threatened to destroy their apartment. She called 911 while he paced around the room frantically.
“He tore the closet door out of my room and pulled it off the ground, snatched it, and slammed it on the living room floor, stepping all over it,” she said.
Overcome with fear, Douglas waited for police to arrive, staying as far away from him as possible. Because he had been living in the apartment for over six months, police said there was nothing they could do to make him leave.
Fearing for her safety, she left and waited at a nearby bus stop for a friend to finish a work shift so she could stay with her.
“I was there from 8:30 until 2 a.m., at a bus stop by myself with nothing but a small bag with some clothing,” she said.
Though Douglas was safe, her apartment was trashed.
“It was all destroyed. I was in tears. I had never seen anything like this,” she said.
She has been sleeping on her friend’s couch and living out of a suitcase for more than three months.
Douglas’ wish is for a queen-size bedroom set so she can begin in a new home and not have to impose on her friend’s hospitality any longer.
Douglas said she is grateful to have made it out of her situation safely. But she wants to move forward.
“I wanted to make a change for the better,” she said. “After everything that I’ve been through, I am still standing above everything. I am not going to give up because I am a fighter.”
How to Help
To help the more than 180 other nominees who are in need this year:
▪ To donate, use the coupon found in the newspaper or pay securely online through www.MiamiHerald.com/wishbook
▪ For more information, call 305-376-2906 or email Wishbook@MiamiHerald.com
▪ The most requested items are often laptops and tablets for school, furniture, and accessible vans
▪ Read all Wish Book stories on www.MiamiHerald.com/wishbook
This story is the product of a partnership between the Miami Herald and the Lee Caplin School of Journalism & Media at Florida International University
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