Since she was a child, A-B Tech student Chantelle Brisbone’s heart has always ached for homeless people she passed on the street. “If I had five dollars, I’d give it to them,” she said. Having grown up in foster care, the 41-year-old Philadelphia native knew firsthand many of these strangers’ struggles. Her early life included alcoholism, sexual abuse, and more emotional and physical pain than any child should bear. These days, Brisbone is eager to share her story with anyone who will listen. She speaks swiftly, words running together, and often gets swept up in emotion when talking about her future, which is filled with newfound hope.
Now, with her oldest 23, Brisbone is finally realizing her longtime dream of going to college. Having recently completed A-B Tech’s High School Equivalency (HSE) program, she is now pursuing both Baking and Pastry and Substance Abuse Counselor certificates at the college. “I wanted to go to college,” she said. “But my life took a drastic turn. I went through a lot of domestic violence, drug violence, children, more drug violence, fighting.”
Brisbone had her first of five children at eighteen. She dropped out of high school when she became pregnant and spent her twenties and thirties navigating the complexities of living with an alcoholic and abusive partner, while managing her own trauma and addiction.
The road to A-B Tech has not been easy. In August of 2023, Brisbone, who’d been living in Anderson, SC, with her boyfriend, made the decision to leave the relationship. She’d quit drugs on her own and spent 13 months battling side effects and struggling to cope with long pent-up emotions. Now her boyfriend was pulling her back into unhealthy habits. “He was worldly and he was doing stuff I didn’t want to do,’” she said. “God said I want to see you jump out there.”
So, jump, she did, without fully thinking of where she would land. Without a car of her own, Brisbane hitched a ride with a friend to Asheville. Her money soon ran out, and she fell in with a group of people living in tents along the Swannanoa River. One day in August, while washing up in a hotel bathroom, police knocked on the door. They had a warrant for her arrest for a domestic violence incident that had happened 13 years earlier. Brisbane was put in jail in Buncombe County with bail posted at $200, more than she could afford. While she was in jail, Helene moved in and swept out the camp she’d been staying in along the river.
“He saved me from the hurricane,” she said. “Where I was a lot of people died. He moved me, and he used that warrant from 13 years ago to do it.”
Soon after getting out of jail in October, Brisbone moved into the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Asheville. Eager to get her life on track, she attended an East Tennessee State University seminar at the hotel and learned about state-funded Helene grants available to help pay for college. Some digging unearthed A-B Tech’s HSE program.
Though Brisbone struggled with math, she was able to pass the HSE exam with extra help from her teachers. “My experience was God-driven,” she said. “I was happy and confident through Christ; the teachers were nice and patient with me.”
For the first time, Brisbane feels like she’s fulfilling her God-given potential.“I’m walking in blessing,” she said. “God did it. He let me go this route so I could teach other people. It’s not about textbooks because I was doing it before these textbooks.”
Her dream? To open a shelter for people who have experienced abuse and homelessness. In it she will bake delicious, nourishing food, something she’s enjoyed doing for years. She will turn her passion into a nonprofit whose mission, she said, will be simple: "Let your light shine. Give your gifts away. Reach out and receive God’s grace."
Learn more about A-B Tech's High School Equivalency program.