Extraordinary residents making most of life after major setbacks

'LIKE A FAMILY'

For years, a young mother from South El Monte knew nothing but famine.

"There were many, many times where I went without food," said the 21-year-old who asked to be identified only as Jennifer. "I would starve myself to feed my son."

But there was no sign of hunger pangs as Jennifer sat down Wednesday for an early Thanksgiving feast at the newly opened Transitional Age Youth Center in Irwindale. The program for teens and young adults is run by the nonprofit Pacific Clinics, which serves Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino and Ventura counties.
"We're like a family here," said Jennifer, who credits the organization for helping her turn her life around in a year's time.
"Without them, I think my son would be in a foster home and I'd probably be dead," she said. "It was right before Thanksgiving last year when Pacific Clinics found me."

Since childhood, Jennifer's life had been derailed by a series of abusive relationships, first at home and later in a troubled teenage romance.
Devastated by a violent rape at 15, Jennifer said she turned to drugs and alcohol to cope with extreme anxiety and depression. Under the constant threat of homelessness, she moved from one place to the next, always at risk of spending the night on the streets of South El Monte.
"I would just crush down if I wasn't on something," she said.
It was after reaching out for treatment that Jennifer became pregnant and was referred to Pacific Clinics.
"Thank God," she said. "In a lot of ways, my son saved me."
With the help of her case manager at the TAY Center, Jennifer found transportation, an apartment and a job. She is also pursuing a degree in sociology at Rio Hondo College.
Now, Jennifer said, she has a sense of place — especially after celebrating her son's third birthday last week.
"I feel like I'm actually wanted here in this world," she said.

'IT'S ABOUT LOVE'
Isaiah Hinnerichs wears his art on his sleeve. And on his jeans.
Across a twisted canvas of denim, the young artist has painted a landscape of Pasadena City Hall, that regal landmark that loomed overhead when he was just a teen, homeless and living on the city's streets.
The jeans were among his only belongings during that time six years ago, after his family was evicted from their home.
Later, Hinnerichs would reconnect with the building when an outreach agency helped him get a tiny apartment across the street, still in the shadow of City Hall.
His mixed-media vision of the iconic building is perfectly familiar yet wholly unlike others.
Perhaps that's because Hinnerichs is legally blind, a disability he was born with.
Hinnerichs is able to study images at an extremely close range. He holds his cell phone inches from his eyes to check the date on the calendar; on the computer, he nestles in close to the screen with the zoom settings magnified.
This year, Hinnerichs was commissioned by officials at Pacific Clinics to design a logo for Hestia House, the agency's Pasadena shelter for homeless teens and young adults in the San Gabriel Valley.
It was a turning point for Hinnerichs, who crafted the image around a simple premise: "It's about love," he said.
His first paid project as an artist, the logo — a house and heart composed in deep purple and red tones — now appears on Pacific Clinics promotional materials.
"I went from artist to professional artist," he said. "It earned me some prestige."

Now 22 and living in Walnut, Hinnerichs is a student at Mt. San Antonio College, where he hopes to study psychology and visual arts. He's a long way from the 16-year-old boy who once walked the streets of Pasadena, but those days are never far from his mind.
He said he has yet to find a home that is both safe and welcoming, his real-life version of the Hestia House logo.
"I've been in some of the worst places that most people have never been in their whole lives," he said.
But Hinnerichs is using art to conquer his environment and build bridges. A once-strained relationship with father David Hinnerichs has blossomed over art, he said. Early this year, the pair were featured in a father-son exhibition at Winestyles in South Pasadena.
And, most recently, Hinnerichs' work landed on the cover of Pasadena Weekly with a split-screen image of presidential candidates John McCain and Barack Obama.
Hinnerichs said he hopes to give back to Pacific Clinics, the agency that first supported his art.
"I would love to be there for the people who were there for me," he said.
'SOMETHING BETTER'
It will be a sparse holiday season this year for Janet Byerly.
Rather than traveling to visit friends, the Norwalk resident had plans to spend Thanksgiving at home. For Christmas, there will be no annual trip to Downtown Disney in Anaheim.
But the 61-year-old doesn't mind; she knows what it's like to have even less.

Six years ago, Byerly was unemployed and homeless in Bellflower. With limited mobility from the effects of post-polio syndrome and diabetes, she was receiving a small amount of Supplemental Security Income that she used to support her son and his girlfriend, who were also homeless.
"It was really pretty bad," she recalled. "People couldn't believe I was in my 50s and homeless."
But Byerly had a dream of getting an education and getting off the streets. Determined to change her station in life, she moved into a board-and- care facility. With guidance from the team at Pacific Clinics, in 2005 she began spending her days taking online classes and studying.
"I don't know what prompted me to go to school," Byerly said. "I knew I needed to upgrade to something better."
By March of this year, she had earned a master's degree in business administration from American InterContinental University.
Byerly now works at the Los Angeles Centers for Alcohol and Drug Abuse in Santa Fe Springs. And she believes even greater changes — a new job in health care, an apartment of her own — lie ahead.
"It's unbelievably exciting," she said. "If I hadn't done it, I don't know where I would be now."