I’d like to welcome Cathy Walker, a Daybreak Alumni, to our #50Faces50Voices segment.
I always like to start with the first moment that brought you to Daybreak. What was that moment of instability for you?

Well, I’d been having a lot of mental health issues and I and that resulted in me being kicked out of my parents’ house because of how I was treating them and how that was going down.
I’d been homeless for a little bit before that, but my mother was one of my biggest supports and she ended up bringing me up to the women’s shelter in Dayton.
And the next day after that—I tell this story to a lot of people, but I don’t know if I told it to anyone at Daybreak.

I had the option that day of either going to Daybreak with a caseworker or going to a Panic At The Disco! concert that night.
And I reluctantly went to Daybreak with the caseworker.
And it was the best decision I’d ever made.

That’s a big choice. It’s two very different options.

And then a couple years later, I got to see Panic At The Disco! anyway.

Awesome! So, then how old were you at the time?

I was 20 years old.

And then, so you came to Daybreak through the women’s shelter in the area?

Yeah.

Once you did get to Daybreak and came to terms with not going to Panic At The Disco! that night, what services helped you build stability in your life.

Three of them.
Mainly the mentoring I got through Mr. Neal. Rest in peace to him.

And then the housing program for sure helped me get on my feet.

And then the mental health services that I received with Mr. Dylan.

Those 3 facets were what really helped me get on my feet and I was a Daybreak client until I was 24 1/2 years old.
Or actually right before I turned 25.

Yeah, that’s what we want. We want to give you that strong foundation so that we can help you as much as we can. And then once you get to that point, you’ve got the tools hopefully to move on from there.
I love that it was three different ones that you thought of immediately because that’s what we try to do. It’s more than one thing to solve those situations.

So, give us a picture of your life today. What is that like?

Well, I still struggle with my mental health just a little bit, but not to the degree that I did back then.

I have a really good handle on it. I have another therapist that’s outside of Daybreak, obviously, and I still see her, and I see a psychiatrist, and that’s all just what I’ve maintained through the years.
And I’m married.
I have a husband and I’ve been with him since before I left Daybreak, but we got married in 2023. It was lovely and it’s been a pretty good marriage so far.
I still struggle with some physical disability that I gained towards the end of my stay at Daybreak. But that doesn’t keep me sad or anything like that.
It doesn’t keep me down.

As a hobby I stream on Twitch and this month I’m actually raising money for Daybreak, and I’ve already gotten one donation from one stream, so hopefully I can hit a goal of I’m hoping $250, but that’s really a bit of a stretch because I do have a very small community, but I’m just. I’m trying.

Yeah, we’re glad that you’re trying, every bit helps.

It’s not one person, it’s the whole community.
It’s everyone that can make that difference, and putting a streaming fundraiser on Twitch is also making a huge difference.

Right.

You’re one of those shining stars in our constellation of support.

Thank you.

I love what you said too about maintaining mental health because I think sometimes people can misunderstand that you need mental health support and then once you get to a certain point, you’re fine. But it’s like any other type of health that needs that maintenance and upkeep.

Yeah, exactly.

What would you want people to know about Daybreak?

They do the most important work in the lives of underprivileged youth in Dayton.

Essentially, you guys saved my life. At the point where I came to Daybreak, I was very not safe in my brain, and I would have found a way to not be here today if it weren’t for Daybreak.

Well, I’m really glad that we were here, and you were able to find those wonderful people who helped you with mental health and housing. We are very grateful for advocates like you out in the community telling, telling your story and then also letting people know what we can do here.

Stay tuned for more interviews as we continue this yearlong celebration of our 50th anniversary serving Miami Valley’s homeless youth. In the meantime, make sure you caught last week’s interview with Daybreak Alumni, Carolynn Carr.

And if you have a story you’d like to share, send me a message at soldano-herrleg@daybreakdayton.org. I’d love to hear from you!