She grew up watching her mother struggle. Now she runs two programs that catch other families before they fall the same way.

A childhood that set the direction

Mary Flores's own childhood was shaped by a mother's struggle with alcohol, depression, and suicidal despair. She didn't leave that experience behind when she became an adult — she turned it into the reason she does this work. Where some people distance themselves from a hard childhood, Mary built a career, and eventually two full programs, out of hers.

Ten years as Hood County's Crime Victim Liaison

Mary has served as Crime Victim Liaison for the Hood County Sheriff's Office for the past decade — the person who sits with victims of crime through some of the hardest days of their lives, coordinating support and connecting them to resources when the system alone isn't enough. She also serves on the board of the Salvation Army Extension Unit of Hood County.

Founding "We've Had ENOUGH!"

Mary founded the "We've Had ENOUGH!" abuse-prevention program — a real, still-running initiative, not a one-time campaign. Founding a prevention program from scratch and keeping it running takes a different kind of commitment than working within an existing system. It's the same instinct Mercy Manor is built on: naming a hard problem plainly, and building something durable in response.

Directing the GAP mentoring program

Mary also directs the GAP mentoring program, which supports foster teens aging out of care — a population with strikingly few structured supports once they turn 18. Foster teens aging out of the system face outcomes similar in shape to what many Mercy Manor residents will have already lived through: sudden loss of support, no stable home base, and few adults left standing behind them.

Why this work led her to Mercy Manor's board

Mary's presence on Mercy Manor's board isn't a symbolic addition. It's a direct line from her own childhood, through a decade of victim advocacy, through two programs she built and still runs, into a ministry designed to catch women at the exact point her own programs often can't go far enough: a full year of structured, residential, Christ-centered recovery.