It’s not uncommon to be broke. But for some single mothers, all it takes is one bad business decision or one unexpected expense to end up homeless — with kids in tow.

"When some people envision a homeless woman, they envision a woman pushing a grocery cart down the street, but that’s not the case," said Carol Heath, director of My Sister’s Place, a Gainesville haven for women and children in financial distress.

Heath said since 2001 My Sister’s Place has been a locally certified home where women — young and old, with and without children — are invited to stay when they are booted out of their homes for either financial or emotional reasons.

"Our main purpose is to give shelter to women who otherwise would fall through the cracks," Heath said. "We want to provide a safe haven for a fresh start. We want to help a lady with her relationship with Jesus, and to where she has a job and is paying her own rent."

Heath and her assistant, Peggy Preston, live in the bright and clean Davis Street home that houses the nonprofit Christian ministry.

Two separate bedrooms in the house contain six adult beds, a child-size bed and a crib, which allows up to eight occupants at a time.

Women without alcohol or drug addictions are permitted to stay at the residence for up to two weeks until they are able to find a job.

The small staff at My Sister’s Place shuffles job-hunters to and from interviews in a van donated by a widower whose wife was one of the program’s 500 contributors.

Heath said transportation is often the key hurdle for homeless women trying to achieve financial independence. Women are allowed to spend 90 days at the shelter while they pin down a job, save money and prepare to move into a place of their own.

"Sometimes we have women who have tried it on their own and just couldn’t make it financially. Right now, housing is exorbitant," Heath said, adding that My Sister’s Place does not operate as a rehab center and does not aim to serve victims of domestic violence.

Although My Sister’s Place is currently renting a house in a neighborhood where drug dealers, prostitutes and police are a common sight, Heath said her goal is to move My Sister’s Place to a new location where women can have more privacy and children residing at the shelter can play outdoors without worry.

She said women come to My Sister’s Place from as far away as Macon and Rabun County looking for a place to stay while they get back on their feet. Heath said some young women come to the shelter after graduating from high school and being asked to leave their parents’ homes.

She said others live in rural areas and have trouble finding a job without daily transportation, and some don’t even have the fare to purchase a bus ticket to begin the job search at all.

Some women come to My Sister’s Place after their boyfriends or husbands have kicked them out.

"We want to teach them that they don’t need a man to take care of them. They can take care of themselves," Heath said.

Last year, about 80 women lived at My Sister’s Place with Heath and Preston. Heath said roughly 25 percent of those women found jobs and were able to get their own place and obtain independence with the help of My Sister’s Place.

Heath said the program is in desperate need of a new home in a better neighborhood that has more rooms to accommodate more mothers with children.

"Sometimes we get a mother with three or four children we can’t take because we don’t have the room," Heath said. "By having a bigger house, we could take in more women with children."

In addition to leading Christian devotions, Heath teaches the women how to make a house a home with inexpensive homemaking techniques such as sewing and simple decorating.

Bonnie Wirfs serves on the board for My Sister’s Place and said the steady influx of women into the program demonstrates a need for a larger homeless women’s shelter. She said Heath spends her days implementing strict guidelines for the women as they begin to repair their lives and financial situations.

"Carol, she’s really the heart of what we do," Wirfs said. "It requires passion because it’s very difficult. It’s a difficult task to create hope in a woman that has no hope."