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Liz Murray discusses her road 'From Homeless to Harvard'

From left, Sisters Marlene Weisenbeck and Mary Ann Gschwind, Liz Murray, center, and Sisters Mary Kathryn Forgarty and Ronalda Hophan.

Hunger, homelessness, parental drug abuse, parents with AIDS, and neglect . . . any one of these challenges would be enough to cause a child to lose hope. But, as attendees at the recent Women's Fund Luncheon in La Crosse learned, it only takes one thoughtful person to break the pattern.

Liz Murray, a national speaker and the focus of a Lifetime network movie, Homeless to Harvard: The Liz Murray Story was the featured speaker at the luncheon in October. Her visit was sponsored by the Franciscan Sisters of Perpetual Adoration. Currently a student at Harvard University, Murray spoke about her painful childhood in depth, explaining that she wanted to be a voice for those who receive support from the Women's Fund.

Murray talked about her parents' addiction to cocaine and heroine, and how they would spend the monthly welfare checks they received within a week, leaving Murray and her sister to knock on the doors of neighbors at dinnertime. As an adolescent, Murray dropped out of school, and while her mother was in the hospital dying of AIDS, and her father was living in a shelter, she chose homelessness over becoming a ward of the state. Murray recognizes that the death of her mother was a turning point for her. "I realized that at the end of the day what I do and what I don't do sticks to me and no one else."

Murray explains that she lost her faith in the "system" which included group homes, welfare and incompetent social workers. She says she had pressure to improve herself, but none of the means to do so, and no path to take. Murray said that's the reason efforts like those supported by the Women's Fund are so important, "They recognize that when you make a decision to improve your lives that some practical means need to be on the other side to make that dream a reality."

Murray eventually was accepted into an alternative high school, where she was taken under the wing of a man named Perry. He mentored her, and as a result, she worked hard to complete high school in two years with high grades. She then applied for, and was awarded a large scholarship which enabled her to enroll at Harvard University. She now travels nationally to speak about her experience.

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