Meet a remarkable woman who gives mothers and their children a second chance at life

Anna Rodriquez is a remarkable woman. As a mom of three, and a Family Pathways Program Director at Buckner Children and Family Services in Midland, Rodriquez is dedicated to helping change the lives of women who are abused and have been beaten to the core.

Family Pathways provides single-parent families the opportunity to live in a safe, secure environment while completing their educational goals and learning the skills they need to be self-sufficient. Families are provided support through access to affordable housing, financial assistance, counseling, spiritual growth and case management services.
Buckner in Midland – www.buckner.org/midland

Rodriquez believes that by changing the life of one mom, it will change the futures for three generations. Her journey started 37 years ago, working as a school bus driver to help pay her way through college. One little girl refused to get off the bus and wanted to be dropped off last. The little girl told her that she was being abused at night and that she didn’t want to go home. Rodriquez spent hours with her trying to track down another family member and CPS. This would be the first young girl she saved and the beginning of her life’s work.

“She said I can’t go home; you don’t know what happens to me at night. When she said that, I looked into her eyes and her eyes told me the whole story. That changed my life forever that changed the direction of my future, and that’s what I do today. I help change the direction of women’s lives.”
Anna Rodriquez

After graduating from college, her first job was working with individuals struggling with homelessness drug addiction/mental illness, She realized after two years working in intervention that she was needed in the prevention stage to help teen parents have a surviving chance at a better life. She has worked with moms as young as 9-years-old.

Rodriquez is remarkable because she helps women in life and death situations by finding safe places, helping build transitional homes for single parents from the ground up, and getting women back on their life’s journey.

“Statistically, a woman will go back to her abuser seven times if she makes it if she lives to make it seven times. You have to stop and look at yourself in the mirror and ask, are you tired of living that life. If you’re tired, let’s do something about it,” said Rodriquez.

The woman who nominated her said that in the middle of the night, Anna came to her rescue to help her and her little boy find a room after their apartment had been flooded. In freezing temperatures, the only place they had to sleep was in their car. Rodriquez will tell you these women who escape and leave their abusive situations and work towards a better life are the heroes; they do all the work, Rodriquez says she does the “hearts work.”

But to these women and our community, she’s a hero.