Every weekday morning, Irma and her ten-year-old granddaughter Erma walk out the door together. Erma is headed to Hope School, just down the road. Irma is headed to the YMCA for strength training three mornings a week, restorative yoga on the other two. It is a small, ordinary routine, yet so meaningful. Her body shows up for the classes. Her spirit, it turns out, was never the part that needed strengthening.

Irma is a grandmother. She has been raising children for most of her adult life, and when little Erma was about two years old, Irma found herself needing a safe place to begin again. She came to St. Vincent’s Family Strengthening Program (FSP) with her granddaughter, and for the next 27 months, the FSP cottages became their home.

She will tell you she doesn’t have a complicated philosophy about what carried her through. “Sometimes people make mistakes,” she says, “and you need family around to say, OK — I’m here. Now let’s keep moving forward.” If one of her grandchildren says they can’t face the day, Irma doesn’t accept it. ‘Get up.’ And somehow, they do. She is gentle about it — but firm. “I know it’s hard,” she’ll say. “But you feel better about yourself.” Being the one who holds the line is not always easy. She knows that. She does it anyway.

Lagacy Garden Mural

At St. Vincent’s FSP, she was surrounded by people who asked not just what she needed, but what she was capable of. Her case manager helped her map a path. A program instructor came every week to lead parenting classes. Sr. Eva was a steady presence — asking her about her strengths, encouraging her to think about what she could build from being there. She found a job — another mother in the program told her Taco Bell was hiring and helped her fill out the application. Everyone looked out for each. Every day, she brought little Erma to St. Vincent’s Early Childhood Center, knowing she was safe and cared for while Irma worked to build something new.

Today, Irma lives at Villa Caridad, St. Vincent’s senior residence on campus. Young Erma loves the residents’ pets, does puzzles — with her own special names for the shape of each puzzle piece — and even introduced a neighbor to graphic novels. When young Erma asked how long they’d be staying, Grandma Irma had a good answer at last: “This is our home now.”

Their walks often take them through St. Vincent’s Legacy Garden, where 21 raised beds invite residents, FSP mothers, and children to plant vegetables, herbs, and something less tangible — a sense of tending and being tended to. The garden has grown alongside the community it serves. Newly completed pathways wind through the space, and seating areas invite people to linger. This year, a hand-painted tile mural was completed on the garden wall, depicting the history of the Daughters of Charity in Santa Barbara. On one of their walks, Erma stopped and studied it. Then she looked up at her grandmother. “Grandma,” she said, “that looks like you and me.”

It does. They are part of this story now — and this garden, this campus, this community is theirs.

St. Vincent’s Family Strengthening Program has supported hundreds of mothers and children since 1996.