About six months ago, Abril Mitchell-Ward, 40, and her family found themselves living at a campground.

Mitchell-Ward’s house had flooded after the unrepairable pipes broke.

The mother of five was and still is on disability after having fought three bouts of breast cancer in two years but she got a job working at the Kampgrounds of America in Kent so that she could support her children.

“We stayed there until about a month-and-a-half ago,” she said in a phone interview. “It got to be too cold for camping and we had to come back to our old house.”

Mitchell-Ward and her children now have a roof over their heads but live with a non-working refrigerator and inadequate plumbing.

“So now we use coolers and ice to make sure our food stays cold,” she said, adding that it’s been tough.

But, it’s her extreme poverty that’s allowed her children to excel in the most profound of ways.

Mitchell-Ward told legislators on Wednesday how the Early Childhood Education and Assistance Program (ECEAP) has helped her family, during a House Early Learning and Children’s Services Committee work session. Representatives from the Department of Early Learning, Thrive Washington, the Washington State Institute for Public Policy, the Department of Social and Health Services and Child Care Aware also attended.

Mitchell-Ward’s 5-year-old son is currently enrolled in the assistance program at Brigadoon Elementary in Federal Way.

The pre-kindergarten classes only serve children and families who live at or below 110 percent of the federal poverty line, which would be $21,483 a year for a family of three. About 66 percent of families have income less than 80 percent of the federal poverty line, according to the Washington State Association of Head Start and ECEAP. Forty-two percent of the children have parents without a high school diploma or GED, 35 percent speak English as a second language, 10 percent are homeless and another 10 percent have a disability.

As a parent advocate and leader for children in the community, and a 2015 parent ambassador who serves on a policy council, Mitchell-Ward knew early learning was vital to the success of her children. Her daughter went through the program to end up in gifted classes the next year. And she knew Tywon, her 5-year-old, would flourish.

But there was one problem: There wasn’t enough space.

“Early learning is important to me because last year, when I was in chemotherapy, I had to take my son with me a lot of the time because the [pre-school] didn’t have a slot in early learning,” she said, noting they would often go by the pre-school to check availability but were met with a “no” more than once. “Tywon would be in tow crying, because he knew he needed to be there.”

She kept trying until one day they finally “answered with the answer we needed to hear.”

“Since getting into early learning, the doors have opened,” Mitchell-Ward said. “They found my son had a disability, he was struggling.”

Tywon has a cognitive and social learning disability that puts him at the low end of the autism spectrum.

“They wrapped their hands around my whole family,” she said with gratitude. “Actually I have a meeting today to discuss his Individualized Education Plan because he’s doing so well. His teacher told me that if you looked at him today, you couldn’t even tell [he has autism].”

In the fall of 2013, 44 percent of early learning children were at or above literacy levels for their age, while only 22.6 percent were for numbers and counting. But by spring 2014, 94 percent reached literacy levels and 81.3 percent were at where they needed to be for numbers and counting.

A Washington State Institute for Public Policy study found that students in the program “had significantly higher math and reading scores in third, fourth and fifth grades compared to children who did not attend the program” and the “return on investment was about $13,030 for each participant” or about $4.20 for every dollar invested.

However, the program could be in jeopardy this session as the Legislature works to fulfill the McCleary decision to amply fund K-12 education.

Katy Warren, the deputy director of the Washington State Association of Head Start and ECEAP said there’s “absolutely” a fear that early learning education will lose funding.

“We’re in a difficult situation where we’re not protected, so it’s certainly up to us and parents like Abril to make the case that this is a serious and necessary investment,” Warren said. “We have one of the best preschool programs in the country, it’s just we don’t serve enough kids in it.”

Warren said they’ll be advocating for Gov. Jay Inslee’s plan in his budget, which calls for 6,358 new slots for the Early Childhood Education and Assistance Program at a cost of $79.8 million.

“In my opinion, we’re fighting for 6,358 more slots, but if these slots had been in place before, children like mine wouldn’t have fallen through the cracks,” Mitchell-Ward said, adding that Tywon could be excelling even further than he is now. “The absence of these programs will make for a lot of wasted dollars in the education system.”

Children who enter the education system in kindergarten prepared have a much higher chance of succeeding later on.

Mitchell-Ward said without early learning the community will be paying for students to be in the justice system instead of having more Roger Freeman’s in the world ­— the 30th District legislator passed away just before the general election.

Members of the association are currently helping Mitchell-Ward and her family to find housing by the end of the month and Federal Way Public Schools recently hired her as a substitute paraeducator.

“I see a future that’s sunny and bright,” Mitchell-Ward said on the brink of tears. “I see my son walking hand in hand with his peers, equally, and a future where I’m no longer living disability paycheck to paycheck, but I’m living a life where it speaks to the effort and passion I’m putting into it. My children are successful and igniting success around them.”

And of course, she sees herself in a home with a refrigerator and with a car that’s drivable.

“I see myself from the outside as I feel on the inside now.”

For more information or to get involved, Mitchell-Ward urges constituents to write a letter to their legislator to pass the Early Start Act or visit www.del.wa.gov/care/find-hs-eceap/.