The one-bedroom, one-bath apartment was all Sheryl Nobello and her husband could afford for years.

Their three sons, ages 9, 11 and 12, slept in bunk beds in the bedroom and she and her husband, Rommel, slept on a daybed couch in the living room of the Daly City unit.

We were able to get by,” Nobello said. But just barely

“The main problem for me was the bathroom,” she said. “The boys would be fighting for the bathroom.”

Both she and her husband work, but have long struggled to get by in the high-priced Bay Area. Nobello is a cafeteria worker at the Jefferson Union High School District, a job for saints and heroes, but one that doesn’t pay much.

The pandemic led to a cutback in her hours, adding even more stress to their bank account.

“We were able to get by,” Nobello said. But just barely.

So when they qualified for a two-bedroom, two-bathroom apartment in the school district’s new employee housing development, the dream of a bigger home in the same city seemed out of reach.

They were living paycheck to paycheck and lacked the required fees and deposit needed to secure the lease.

Living paycheck to paycheck had left nothing in savings.

That’s when the Chronicle Season of Sharing program stepped in with the money they needed to pay the required move-in costs.

“We never thought we could move into this kind of apartment,” Nobello said. “No more fighting about the bathroom.”

And it’s safer, she said.

The support from the fund “was a great, great help,” she said. “It made it real.”

Season of Sharing works throughout the year to address hunger and help people in need in the Bay Area’s nine counties. All administrative costs are covered by The Chronicle and the Evelyn and Walter Haas Jr. Fund, meaning all donations go to organizations or individuals to prevent homelessness, support food banks or provide individual assistance.

Jefferson Union’s spokesperson, Austin Worden, said the new housing for district workers combined with the Season of Sharing fund is the kind of partnership that changes lives.

“To have a community organization like Season of Sharing to support a school employee, it says a lot about how we as a community want to work together,” he said.

When I go to work, I know someone who lives where I live,” she said. “It feels more like a home.

It also means Nobello will be able to continue working in the district, providing a critical service to students rather than moving to another community where housing might be more affordable.

Nobello’s in-laws had been trying to get her to move to Sacramento.

“We’ve lived in Daly City since 2008,” she said in her application for the fund. “But I love the school district and the walkability of the Serramonte Boulevard neighborhood, I just love it.”

The family moved into its new home in June and loves the idea that her neighbors are also co-workers.

“When I go to work, I know someone who lives where I live,” she said. “It feels more like a home.”

Jill Tucker is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: jtucker@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @jilltucker