Becca Rice (center) is a single mom of two sons, Mason (left), 9, and Blake (right), 4. A recovering drug addict who has been sober since 2017, she manages a thrift store at the Friendship Center and is studying online for a college degree. Her mother, Darlene Rice (right) is her biggest supporter.
It's a typical day of chaos for Becca, a 30-year-old single mother who is studying for a degree online through Somerset Community College while managing a thrift store.
Becca is working toward an associate's degree in psychology and does much of her online homework while managing the thrift store at the Friendship Center in downtown Williamsburg, which also gives free vitamins, diapers, food and more to people in need. “I’d say over all the years the Friendship Center has been here, we’ve been able to help at least half of the families living in Williamsburg," Becca says.
Her family is one of them. Becca started her recovery from drug addiction in 2017 and the next year moved to Williamsburg from Winchester. She started working at the Friendship Center in 2021.
"Williamsburg has been able to help me find myself," she says. “I’ve not only been able to make a stable income, but I’ve also been able to be there for my kids in those big events if they need me. It also heals something in you when you are able to help people."
Becca says her mother, Darlene Rice, has been her most important supporter, taking her sons to school each morning and helping in other ways. Once she finishes her education, Becca hopes to become a therapist working to help others escape drug addiction and eventually own her own home. She hopes to "be the person I needed when I needed it."
Family dinners are often chaotic in the Rice household.
Becca cleans shattered glass while Blake rolls by on his skateboard. He broke glass while crashing into a coffee table with it.
Becca and Blake laugh while she fills a syringe with water for him to squirt before she makes the family dinner.
Becca carries donated Christmas items from a donator's truck into the Friendship Center. The center helps local people in need with food and other necessary items.
Becca and coworker Meagan Cashion put prices on newly donated items in the thrift store.
Becca helps a donator finish getting all his Christmas items into the Friendship Center.
Becca works on her homework during her shift at the Friendship Center. She is studying psychology and hopes to eventually become a drug abuse counselor.
Becca goes to the basement of the Friendship Center to get some inventory for the thrift shop.
Becca and her sons live a chaotic life now, but she thinks they can all get through it together.