Dashia Wider, who was homeless for six months in 2012, is now a middle school social studies teacher.
“I was beneath the rock. You know how some people say they hit rock bottom, but I was beneath the rock,” Wider stated.
Wider left her Florida home with just two bags of clothing, two pairs of shoes, and her car when her ex-husband attempted to kill her in 2012. Her entire universe was upended. Now she was homeless and alone.
“I never thought I would be in that position at all. Homelessness is basically you just lost, mentally, physically, emotionally. I had a moment, I asked God, ‘God just take my last breath away from me because I just don’t want to be here anymore. I just don’t want to be here anymore. But the next day God woke me up and the next day, he woke me up again.”
Wider kept rising, refusing to let her previous hardships dictate her future. Wider’s friend in South Carolina offered to help her after she had been living in her car for over six months.
“She had a place for me, she paid it up for six months, she had the lights on, cable on, just laid me a foundation, a second start.”
Wider needed a new beginning.
Wider started working for Richland County School District 1 in August 2012 and had a variety of positions there. She met Dolores Goodwin at Southeast Middle School, who was a blessing in her hour of need.
“One day we had a storm, it was raining real hard, I didn’t have much because all I had was two pairs of cheap flip flop shoes and two bags of clothes. I was trying to clean up, dry myself off and Ms. Goodwin came in and she talked to me and she gave me some encouraging words, some spiritual words, some spiritual food that I needed at that time and she took the shoes off my feet and put them on my feet. I asked her ‘What are you going to do? You don’t have no shoes.'”
“I said ‘I always keep an old pair of slides under my desk, I’ll put those on and walk on them the rest of the day,'” Goodwin responded.
The shoes that Goodwin gave them as a token of charity were just the beginning of their enduring relationship.
Wider became a member of Richland One’s Project R.I.S.E. program in 2023, which assists prospective educators in obtaining their certification. Wider obtained his teaching certification in January 2024. She currently teaches social studies to sixth and seventh graders at Alcorn Middle School.
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“When my children enter my classroom, they’re going to get love, they’re going to get teaching, whatever I need to do they will receive it in a healthy environment,” Wider stated.
Few people are more proud of Wider than Ms. Goodwin, her close friend.
“I am so proud of Dashia. She’s teaching her kids to know, don’t let nothing hold you back, just keep striving. I want Dashia to reach for the stars because I know the sky’s the limit. Dashia will always, always have a special place in my heart, I love her,” Wider stated.
Wider persevered in spite of all the difficulties she encountered because God continued to awaken her and she continued to get up.
