Voice of a Guest: Diana
Diana’s life is soaring now, and she stopped in recently to express her gratitude for the part the soup kitchen played in getting her career and her life off the ground.
A talented singer, actor, writer and model Diana Taylor was moving up in her career when a fire destroyed all her possessions and apartment six years ago. Forced to find emergency, temporary shelter at the cheapest hotel she could find, she quickly realized that after losing all her belongings, including her identification cards, she was on a collision course with homelessness and bankruptcy.
“Someone at the hotel told me I could get a meal here,” she remembers.
For a year and a half, while Diana rebuilt her financial and emotional life from the trauma of the fire, she gained strength from the meals at the soup kitchen, and regained her equilibrium with the help of our social services team.
“While I hustled back to a balance, the soup kitchen was there for me with a wealth of resources,” she says, remembering how much the soup kitchen’s clothing pantry helped her rebuild a wardrobe, and how she found the practical tools she needed to rebuild her life.
“I’ll tell you, it was that little I.D. that helped me the most.” she says, referring to the photo I.D. program run through our social services program. “From there I could get a new social security card, start over and great things began to happen!”
Since then, Diana’s life has taken off again, and now her home base is in Miami, Florida where she continues her life on stage and as a field reporter for a publication called “Soul Be Swag.”
Back in New York, she wanted to share with us her good news, “I got an audition for The Voice on February 2oth” she says excitedly. “So I’m up here working with a vocal coach and getting ready for that.”
As she looks around the soup kitchen, she remembers when times were harder: “It was a blessing…I was never judged,” she remembers, “After I lost everything in the fire, the soup kitchen helped me get back to balance with dignity and respect.”
