Mildred J. Antenor grew up in an immigrant community in Crown Heights Brooklyn. She witnessed and experienced the hardships that the immigrants in her vicinity faced every day. The adversity that she saw was related to drug abuse, mental illness, alcoholism and domestic violence. Mildred and those in her community are the gladioli in an invisible society. Some members of the gladioli were able to survive and thrive despite the difficulties, while others didn't. This is their story.