Darcy Kay Eberle is the hardworking mother of five beautiful daughters. She had big dreams to finish college and get her degree, but she faced financial and personal setbacks that made her dreams feel a long way off.
Darcy endured violence and abuse at the hands of her husband and made the brave choice to file for divorce in order to protect herself and her daughters. She found herself a single mother of five, unemployed, and commuting an hour to school every day. This would be enough to make anyone give up, but Darcy did not.
“I knew the only way to provide the life I wanted for my girls was to finish my degree and find a job.,” She says.
Then, at the end of her last semester, she received a Live Your Dream Award. Thanks to the award, Darcy was able to pay her bills, which was a huge stress reliever for her. She says, “It couldn’t have come at a better time for us.”
She went on to graduate from Western Illinois University with a Bachelor of Arts in Sociology, a huge accomplishment! Her daughters got to witness her overcome the odds and accomplish her goals.
With a bachelor’s degree in hand Darcy and her daughters relocated to a new city and she remarried! Not only that, but she was hired for a job in her field. She is now an Outreach Specialist for a local non-profit. In this job she engages with people facing homelessness and helps them find temporary and permanent housing. After overcoming enormous odds herself, she’s now paying it forward.
Darcy is giving back to the community and living out her dreams.
About the Live Your Dream AwardsThe Live Your Dream Awards provide over $2 million in education grants to about 1,500 women each year. Since 1972, the program has helped thousands of women achieve empowerment through education. More than half of our awards recipients identify as survivors of domestic or sexual violence. Over 97% of those survivors report now living in a safe environment. <strong>HOW TO APPLY</strong> <strong>HOW TO HELP</strong> |
I’ve survived abuse from my boyfriend and his friends. I went to court with bruises to show as facts of the abuse. I won my abusers in jail and I a restraining order of protection. I suffer though the trauma. But as a winner. I have success in so many areas of life. And proud to be alive.