Ashley Green moved to St. Cloud from Duluth in 2004 with her mom and three sisters. A few years later, life took an unexpected turn when she became pregnant during her junior year at Apollo High School. Determined to keep moving forward, Ashley graduated early and welcomed her son soon after. By age 20, she was raising two young children on her own. Like many single parents, she worked full time and did everything she could to provide stability for her family—but even with steady work, it wasn’t always enough to cover everything.
During those years, Catholic Charities’ food shelf helped make sure her family had food on the table. Ashley worked full time managing the floral department at a local grocery store, but with rent, bills, and other necessities, groceries were often the hardest expense to cover. “Even working at a grocery store, I couldn’t always afford to buy the food there,” she says. “Catholic Charities is what my kids grew up on. It’s what we ate.”
What stayed with Ashley the most was how she was treated when she walked through the doors. “The number one thing they do there is treat you with dignity and respect,” she says. “It feels like grocery shopping—it doesn’t feel like you’re there for help.” Staff took the time to understand her needs and often went above and beyond, sometimes adding small treats for her kids or helping ensure her family had enough. “They never made me feel judged. They made me feel like we were all in it together.”
That support helped lift some of the daily stress and allowed Ashley to keep working toward a better future. Over time, she followed her passion for floral design and began teaching herself furniture upholstery at night after her kids were asleep. In 2018, she started doing pop-ups in the Regency Building in downtown St. Cloud, eventually opening her own business, Green Thumb, where she now creates floral arrangements and restores furniture. Today, Ashley often shares her story with others who may be struggling. “Go to the food shelf—that’s what it’s there for,” she says.
“If I didn’t have Catholic Charities taking that stress off my plate, I don’t know if I would have made it this far.”
– Ashley Green
