This year has been one of the hardest of my life.

As the Executive Director of Omega NW, my desire is to lead with clarity, strategy, and steadiness. I want to stand in front of you with confidence and represent what we’re building with strength. But this year, I don’t feel strong. I feel undone… broken open and altered by grief.
But also slowly restored by the undeserved grace of the One who knows how to rebuild me.

This year, I lost my brother, Eric—my keeper of my history, my childhood best friend, my dreaming collaborator, the one who believed in me before I ever believed in myself. Losing him cracked something open in me I didn’t know could break.

And in that breaking, I found myself living out the very things we tell the women at Omega NW:

You don’t have to be perfect to keep going.
You don’t have to be composed to be worthy of compassion.
You are allowed to need people.
You are allowed to fall apart and still rise again.

I have had to practice that—literally.
Navigating systems and paperwork. Carrying responsibilities I didn’t ask for. Crying and yelling at God in the car. Sitting before Him in anger and heartbreak, begging for breath and begging for mercy. Finding grit I didn’t want to need and grace I didn’t feel I deserved.

And through all of this, something became clearer than ever:

I have needed Jesus more this year than I have ever needed Him.
And He showed up.
Not always the way I asked, but always the way I needed.

He showed up through people.
Through unexpected soup on my doorstep.
Through texts and prayers from friends who refused to let me disappear.
And most of all—He showed up through the women Omega NW serves.

Because just like me, the women we serve need more than information or advice.
They need what I needed:

• someone to see them when they feel undone, broken open, or altered by grief or trauma
• someone to help steady them when life is too heavy to carry alone
• someone to remind them they are not beyond hope
• someone who gently, faithfully points them back to the One who knows how to rebuild them

But they also need something else — the same thing I had to find this year:

the courage to get up and keep going.
Even when it’s hard.
Even when it hurts.
Even when all you want to do is hide under the covers and make the world stop for a while.

Grief didn’t pause the bills, appointments, or responsibilities in my life — and it certainly doesn’t pause them in theirs.
The women at Omega NW still have to show up for work, attend court hearings, prepare for job interviews, and practice new skills, even while carrying deep pain.

And this is what donors consistently tell us they admire about Omega NW:

We don’t do the work for women; we walk with them as they do the work themselves.
We don’t offer handouts; we offer a hand up — rooted in dignity, accountability, and real opportunity.

It’s grace and grit.
Jesus and responsibility.
Support and perseverance.

And this year, that combination changed me too.

This year alone:

• We walked alongside women rebuilding their lives after addiction, incarceration, homelessness, domestic violence, and trafficking.
• We celebrated an 88% success rate among women who completed their 10-, 20-, or 30-week programs—women who are now fully employed or employed while attending school.
• We supported women navigating custody, child support, court dates, resumes, interviews, and new beginnings.
• We collaborated with partners like Safety Compass, Domestic Violence Resource Center, the Department of Human Services, Union Gospel Mission, and Portland Rescue Mission to ensure women have access to every resource they need.

Omega NW isn’t just a program.
It’s a lifeline. A soft place to land. A place where grace meets effort, where women learn to rise again.

And today, I’m asking you—humbly, honestly, and with the same rawness I’ve lived this year with—to help us continue this work.

Our year-end goal is $40,000.

This is what will allow us to enter 2026 strong and serve even more women who are navigating their own storms.

$5,400 sponsors one woman through our 10-week program.

Every gift—large or small—helps a woman stand back up, stabilize her life, find employment, and build a future she once thought was impossible.

If you’ve given before: thank you.
If you’ve prayed for us: thank you.
If you’ve supported Omega NW through events, service, or encouragement: thank you.

And if this is the year you feel moved to give financially—whether $50 or $5,400—please know your gift is not just appreciated; it is transformative.

This year reminded me that none of us can do life alone.
Not me.
Not the women who walk through our doors.
Not any of us.

We need each other.
We need hope.
We need Jesus.
We need places like Omega NW.

Thank you for standing with us, for standing with me, and for standing with the women we serve.

With gratitude—raw, real, and deep,
Janna Kainos
Executive Director, Omega NW

Progress Towards Our Goal