ATLANTA, Ga. (CNN) - A routine traffic stop turned into a life changing experience for Ebony Rhodes and an Atlanta Deputy Police Chief.
Her license and registration were expired and she had no insurance. The car was impounded and Ebony was arrested.
"I said, 'oh lord, oh lord, oh lord," said Rhodes.
That's when Deputy Police Chief Jeff Glazier got a call. On the ride to the police station one of his officer's noticed something in the back of her car.
"We were getting a whole lot of bags, a whole lot of clothing and everything and I told him, 'hey, this is our home. This is where we were living," said Rhodes.
Ebony and her four children: Calvin, Isaac, Ja'heame and Dannaija, were all cramped in her 20-year-old Buick Regal for almost six months.
"I was only working at Walmart and trying to make sure that I'm able to feed my kids and keep gas in the car," said Rhodes. "I was unable to get a place."
And complications from a chronic blood disorder forced her to miss some work.
"That's the worst I've ever felt - not being able to be able to provide for my kids as I should be," said Rhodes. "As a mother, that's your job."
"I remember turning to my wife and saying, 'Michelle, we have to do something.' so she said, 'go do something," said Glazier.
Soon after Ebony was released and Chief Glazier called the director of a shelter he'd met weeks earlier.
"I called her up and said, 'listen: I've got a family of five, including three boys and a girl and he's 17. Do you have any room," said Glazier. "And she said, 'yeah, I've got some room.'"
Finally, Ebony's family had a safe, albeit temporary, home.
"Staying in a shelter is not optimum," said Glazier. "I considered that the whole time just to be a short-term solution for this family."
Glazier helped them find this apartment and has become a reliable friend and mentor to Ebony, and the kids.
Chief Glazier says it's easy to help Ebony.
"It's not like she didn't want to work," said Glazier. "When I first met her, she had two jobs, trying to do the right thing."
And Chief Glazier has started a GoFundMe campaign to make sure they are never homeless again
Ebony knows she's not in this fight alone.
"That is my family away from family. The whole APD is my other family," said Rhodes.
