tabbycat
2008-11-19 14:37:38 UTC
Hi my husband and I have 7 combined children and we understand ho
it is to struggle!!!! Believe me we are struggling, but we know thathere are people that have it way harder than we do
We always try to help someone during this time of year doing Ange
Tree or something similar. I've been doing some thinking and thoughI would offer to help out a family IN NEED. We can't give items lik
Playstation, or Wii or items that cost a huge amount, but I do wan
to offer toys, clothes, maybe a coat and shoes to a needy child. The
deserve to have a great Christmas!
Afterall Christmas isn't about Santa, it's about Love and Givin
and I know as a former single mom what it is like to not buy much fomy kids for Christmas and their were kind people who helped me GIVE m
kids a good Christmas.
If you are a family that has a need, maybe you lost your job or ar
a single parent, please email me with your story. I will contactcouple of my friends and try to get a few donations as well
May God Bless you this Holiday season and always!
Rea
more..Rea
Hello, I am writing to you in regards to a famil
who lives near me, here in Elkin, North Carolina. The family I a
referring is a single multiple disabilities mother of 3 girls, one o
which is 14 years old and also has multiple disabilities. She also ha
had several surgeries since she was little. She had a webbed tongue a
well as a cleft lip, and palate along with ADHD, a significan
learning disability, and a very severe developmental delay. She als
has issues with her speech, her hearing, as well as her vision. Sh
is in special education at school and takes speech therapy as well a
counseling. I believe the14 year old is also border line menta
retardation as her I.Q. is very low and her delay in development, a
I understand, is quite significant. The lady also has 2 othe
children and they are all very nice kids and well behaved and ver
respectful. You can just tell by the children that she has done a
awesome job raising them. She is a one of a kind, a special person
and one that has given of herself so much, and deserves to get bac
some of what she has so whole heartedly has given to others. The mo
is such a great person and a God fearing woman and as I said, despit
all the bad luck and bad things she has gone through, she neve
complains. She has incredible strength and despite her sever
multiple mental disabilities, will not give in to the illness an
allow it to get in the way of helping people find Christ. She i
always the first in line to help anyone who needs it even if it mean
giving up her last dime, she would do it. She is so incredible tha
she is a blessing to us all and absolutely an inspiration to us al
and now I wish someone would do the same for her. My husband and
are planning to furnish a small supper for them on Thanksgiving, an
again at Christmas. We will also try hard to furnish the childre
with a real tree, fruits, candy, and a stocking each and we want t
get these children a gift each at least. We may not be able to all o
what we would like to as we too are facing a small cash problem also
However I promised my self and I vowed that if the lord would jus
lead me to where he would have me to go, I would not rest until
find this very deserving family some help. This is absolutely no
your typical current generation type family. These ladies bless m
heart so much and the children are so nice, well behaved, respectfu
and listen to their mother and she is such a blessing to all of u
here in our little rural town. She and her children have not missed
church service at all since the time they joined many years ago. Eve
though this remarkable family has to face and deal with suc
difficult life situations, they never ever complain. Actually they d
more for our community and our Junior youth classes, and our Sunda
school classes, as well as our weekly luncheons for the elderly, tha
probably anyone else in our church. This family is nothing short o
amazing. As I said, I let God lead me to where he would have me go
and I found your site. His will was absolutely for me to come to you.
I know that God will deal with your heart and I pray you will do what
you can to help this unfortunate family that gives so very much and
never asks for anything in return. These children are a very, NO
EXTREMELY rare find. They are children, one is just turned 8 and this
little girl has such a loving and caring, and a BEAUTIFUL personality
its just unreal. They are such a blessing to my husband and I. They
cook, clean, do other chores, go to school every day, never do you
see them running the streets like the other children. They do well in
school, and everyone loves them dearly at church. I actually went to
my Pastor first and asked if he could help me help this so very
deserving mom. Our church however is really small and the benevolence
fund is nearly 0. Just recently the Pastor told me that he helped
several families who had been waiting for a while so right now even
though it truly pains my heart, our little church is just not going
to be able. We did meet a lot of us outside normal service hours and
we threw around some ideas however as it turns out, no one can really
help that much. I personally want this family to receive a blessing
this holiday season. I see much more than most people do as I visit
the mother almost every other day or so. She never comes out of the
house and lives like a recluse actually but she never misses a
service PRAISE GOD she blesses my heart so!!!! A great thing for a
great lady who obviously dearly loves her children and God and makes
sure her children also know Jesus. Every single night the girls line
up and kiss their mom and say good night and then they all kneel down
together hand in hand and they pray together thanking God for
delivering them one more day. The family is very poor and they live
in a run down trailer house and have very old furniture, etc. The
girls come to church sometimes with the same dress several services
in a row. Don't take me wrong, there is no rule about dressing up for
church, we are small and that is fine. The point I am trying to make
to you is that the children apparently do not possess adequate
clothing. When I go visit the mother sometimes as I enter her home, a
HUGE lump develops in my throat, so big that sometimes it hurts. My
eyes will swell and tears form uncontrollably and will begin to
stream down my face and no matter how hard that I fight it, I just
can not stop. I feel so sorry for the mother and the children and how
happy and close they are and how much they love one another and how
much they truly love God despite the poverty they face and the
illnesses they battle every single day that passes. The mom's illness
has progressed in the past months to the point that she nows has
vision hallucinations as well as voice hallucinations. Even thought
this family lives from hand to mouth, one day at a time, their love
for Jesus and their faith never falters. The mom only leaves the home
for church mostly. She will send the children to the store and the
like. She is afraid of (has a phobia of people) and the mental issues
she faces will not allow her to see the world as you and I do, however
she still fights hard, tooth and nail, to rebuke the illnesses and
gives God all the credit for her strength. Honestly this woman is
nothing but a true inspiration to me, to you, to anyone. I see this
family and I know their situation, and it truly is dire. The family
is 2 months in arrears on the mobile home, also 2 months in arrears
in the lot rent. Their electric bill just keeps adding and adding up
as they have been delinquent for some time now. My husband and I paid
their bill a few days ago as they had a disconnect notice and so we
helped them out a little there, however, the electric is so
delinquent that as one bills gets paid, the next has come due and
this is a continuous cycle. They also just lost their phone services
recently. I did not know about it or else I would have paid that too.
I am looking into getting it back in service, however, as you must
know, there are this and that charge and a stiff reconnect charge,
etc. etc. The family is on Medicaid so they are squared away on that,
and on medicines for all the illnesses they face. They also get food
stamps but the elder daughter who is 15 or 16, confided days ago that
the food never lasts all the month. There are 4 people in the home, 3
growing girls at that, and the family gets a mere 290.00 a month in
food stamp allotment. Most of us spend that much in a week and a half
or two weeks and it is just 2 of us and we spend at least 140-150
dollars a week FOR ONLY TWO of us, there are FOUR OF THEM. That comes
out to approximately 70 dollars a week for food, that is unbelievable.
So this is exactly why I plan to treat them to supper with the
trimmings on Thanksgiving as well as Christmas. I want to do so much
for them as they truly are a blessing to me. I love the girls so much
they are lovely, sweet, nice, well mannered, well behaved, respectful,
and love Jesus and they listen to the mom and are just wonderful
children. They even cook can you believe it? Why, the little one just
yesterday when I went over to visit, was in there cooking scrambled
eggs. What a blessing, what a blessing praise Jesus!!! I hurt deeply
as I want so much to do so much more than I can for them, they as I
has said over and over and I will say it AGAIN, they truly are the
most deserving family I have ever known. I pray over this email, Lord
Jesus, please reach down into the chest of the very one who is reading
these words that I send and touch their heart lord with compassion and
love so that they will know how truly deserving this little family is
and that they may know the pain and suffering and the very low
quality of living they girls and their mother battle every single day
of their lives, never complaining at all, to the contrary, their
praise God for giving them a day at a time and being able to be
together, feeling love for each other, while walking in Gods will,
and praising God as a whole family. I beg you, your organization, you
there reading these word, PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE, will you help me
help this family? They are our brother in need, and God asks that we
help any brother that we see in need. For the bible tells us that
whoever hears a brother in need and ignores him, so shall he be
ignored by my father. Please, will you help me to ensure that this
very deserving, God loving, beautiful example of what a true
Christian, God fearing family is. They are a blessing to all of us
here in the community and I plead that you PLEASE help me help them,
will you????? I asked the littlest girl the last time I was over
there what did she want Santa to bring her and her big sister and
what she answered me brought the tear streaming down my cheeks. She
said to me that as long as they had each other, enough food to eat, a
way to help mommy pay all the late bills as she called them, Jesus
will take care of the rest she told me. Wow I was so touched by the
little angel face of a child, and off her, I believe I literally saw
an ora or whatever they call the energy that surrounds our soul, it
appeared as a hazy type smoky if you will. I am sure I was imagining
it, but I will just really rather believe that what I saw was the
holy spirit surrounding her. I wanted so badly to find out something
that the children really wanted that I stayed on line and so I asked
her once more. "What do you want most of all? Something that you
could never imagine you could ever have I said to her. Is there any
thing at all that you can think of that you would just really really
love to have, I said to her. After several minutes she raised her
little angelic face to me and she says well there is one thing that I
would really like to have she said, and I really need it as does my
big sisters she said to me. My mom could really use it too she said.
I asked her again, I said ok, what is it that could be very useful to
you all, you name it I told her and I will personally talk to Santa
and I will tell him that you and your sissy's have been extra, extra
good this year and I will ask him if he will bring it to you I told
her. She hesitated and got really quiet and I kept on telling her
what is it, what is it you want, what is it I asked again. She looked
up at me and she said but what I want is a lot of money and Santa has
so many other children who need more than I do she said to me. Oh my
lord I almost lost my entire balance. My knees started to shake and I
felt such a touch of the holy spirit run through me at that very
moment, I knew that very instant that God wants me to advocate for
this family, and so I come to you asking that you please help me help
them. The item I finally got it out of her is a laptop. The family
does not have a computer and the girls apparently use the internet a
lot at school and I think maybe the teacher commented to them that a
computer at home would be very helpful and resourceful for the girls,
especially the one who is borderline mentally retarded who has the
severe learning disability, developmental delay, and SEVERE ADHD, and
all the other health issues. I don't know how much a nice laptop is,
but I am sure I can not afford it right now, not even a modest one. I
was really hoping for this family to get a grant from you and the mom
could use the money to pay up all the bills she can and possibly have
enough left over to buy the children a modest one. I want to make sure
that they will receive help. May I stay in contact with your
organization and will you please email me back and PLEASE SAY YO
will help them. I read on your site that you give out grants t
individuals, and families around the holidays, and I wanted to ask i
it was at all possible that you could give this family one? I ask yo
this in Jesus Christ's name PLEASE DON'T TURN AWAY, HELP THIS POO
FAMILY. The family is in DIRE need right now but like I said, the mo
would never complain and /or even ask for help. I hope and pray tha
your organization will do something for this family during thi
holidays season, as at this time there is so many things that the
need. I have asked the pastor at our church to help her but as we ar
a very small church, there are no funds available to help the family
So after some of us neighbors got together, we decided to try an
find some organizations and/or foundation etc. to see if we could ge
this family the help they so need and so deserve. The Lord lead me t
your site Despite all the problems in their lives, this family i
nothing short of amazing. They attend church every time the doo
opens and is always ready to help anyone who needs it. The mom help
out tremendously with our church activities and to the entire tow
she is a blessing to us all. She has been through so much as have he
children but this lady is incredibly strong and refuses to let thing
get her down. She credits God for her strength and puts God firs
always. The family is a very nice, respectful, and private family an
a God fearing family. The mother, Amy, right now is having a
extremely difficult time financially. The family is in DIRE need o
help, however the mom never complains. I, along with several of ou
neighbors, when we got word of all that this family is going through
we decided to step in and try to get them some help so we ar
contacting you, to ask that you please help her and the children. I
ever there was a family that is deserving, it is this one. The famil
is really struggling right now just to make it. The mother of the
girls, despite her health condition, volunteers a lot of her time t
activities of our church. The mom visits with shut ins and goes t
the local jails and prisons and helps out by translating for th
non-English speaking Hispanics as she is fluent in Spanish. Everyon
here really loves the family and we all want to see something ver
special happen for the family. The family attends church and the mom
despite her own disabilities, is very active in church. She is such
blessing to us and we all can learn from her. The family is very poo
and has nothing really but a mortgage and bills. However they are ric
in values, morals, and respect. Our little neighborhood all know he
and take my word, this lady and her children are very good and a ver
nice family. They are a family in a very difficult situation and I a
hoping that your organization will help them. The mom had a ca
accident a while back and was injured quite badly. She had lots o
fractures, and even had 2 ribs broken, as well as 2 of the bones i
her neck. For weeks upon weeks she wore a neck brace. Despite th
brace and the pain she was enduring, she never missed church nor di
she stop visiting with people inviting them to church. The car wa
totally lost and she did not have full coverage so she ended u
without a car or any kind of transportation. It took her a while bu
she finally found an older cheap car to drive and unbelievably, tha
car too was stolen from her driveway. When the police found it, i
was wrecked and abandoned with extensive damage. The car had to b
parked as she doesnt have the funds to fix it. She got a couple o
estimates for the damages done to the car and they are fairly close
One estimate that cost to repair the car is $1,535.00 and the othe
one I believe was like $1,600.00 The family gets only a SSI check fo
the daughter. The check they get is only $597.00 a month and out o
that they have a mortgage and a lot of other bills too. The family i
forced to make it on this very small income and needless for me t
say, they are in a terrible situation right now. They are i
extremely DIRE NEED and really need help. Can your organization help
them by granting the daughter a wish? This family has been through so
much that its incredibly hard to believe that so much bad luck could
actually come to one family. The mother grew up in a very abusive
family and her father was an extremely heavy alcoholic. Her mom
fought cancer for two or three years and this lady as a child, at a
very young age, experienced her mom being literally eaten up with the
cancer. After her mothers death, the father continued to abuse
alcohol and her too. Her father had a stroke when she was in her
teens and she had to take care of him all on her own. Later the
father had another stroke and had to be placed in a facility for the
elderly. Later when she was about 15 or 16 as she has told me, she
got married to a man that was over twice her age. She apparently got
married basically to escape her problems and to have someone to just
love her and provide for her. It turned out that the man that she
married also was an alcoholic. During her marriage to this guy, she
had to endure so much pain and suffering as he too was a heavy
drinker who could not control it, and he also was very physically,
mentally, and verbally abusive to her. Two children were born from
this marriage before they ended up divorced. A few years after that,
she remarried and ended up having a third child. Finally she has told
me before; she thought she had now found the right one for her. For
the first time in her life she told me, she was finally at peace and
happy. Incredibly that marriage too turned out to be even worse than
the first one. The ladys second husband, as it turned out, was a
child molester. He apparently was doing very inappropriate things
with her eldest daughter and also with the second daughter. Needless
to say she left him too and later they were divorced. After all she
had already been through, and all that the little children had been
through too, she somehow vowed that she would not allow all the bad
circumstances to get to her nor would she give up on God. She stayed
strong for herself and her children. She tells me that when people
are faced with so much and they think they cant take anymore, that
is when God steps in. God always has been there and rescued her from
it all. Years after the alleged molestation she found herself alone
again and lonesome but determined that she would make it. She ended
up married a third time. After several years of being married the
third time, unbelievably, her husband, who was working out of town at
the time, was accidently shot and killed. He apparently got in the way
of some gangs and the bullet meant for someone else, got him instead.
Can you imagine the pain that this lady has seen in her life? All the
negative things they have had to endure, it would bring even the
strongest person down to their knees. I sure cant. Some people seem
to be rocks while others can not hold it together even with the
slightest thing. This lady is definitely a rock. She is definitely an
example for us all. She certainly is an inspiration for me, and for a
lot of people in our town. She is absolutely incredible. These
children are missing out on so many things due to the familys
financial situation. While most kids go to the movies or skating,
these kids never get to do anything like that. Ten dollars to them is
like a thousand dollars when you dont have it. The children are going
to go without Christmas gifts it seems this year. The family car as I
mentioned is really damaged and in need of repairs. Also the family
is 2 months behind on their mortgage and the finance company is
threatening to foreclose if it doesnt get paid soon. Her lot rent is
2 months behind also. Her electricity bill right now is a little over
500.00 and her car insurance is coming due on 11/14/08 and that is
like 375.00. Also the family has a package through Time Warner cable
which is the cable/internet/phone. That bill is $427.00 which is like
4 months behind. Many may believe that this is a luxury and to many,
it is, but to this family, it is their link out as the mom and the
oldest daughter are taking classes online making it a necessity. I
know that there are many families that need help right now with the
economy the way it is, but this family is special in that they are
very deserving. Living on a mere 597.00 to me is just unimaginable.
They need help in the worst way. We live in Elkin, as I said, which a
very small, rural town is and at least 15 minutes from any store (by
car) and a car is very much needed here. The family couldnt even
afford a tank of gas; much less afford $1,500-$1,600 to fix the car.
Some of looked into a program like victims recovery/advocates and
they would not help her out because the person who stole it and
wrecked it was unknown. So she, having no fault of her own, is going
to have to come up with the money to fix the car. Also somehow my
daughter, who is about the same age as this ladys girl, (the 15 year
old), found out that the familys checking account was in the negative
and on the first of the month when their social security is deposited,
the amount of the negative balance is just going to eat up a lot of
their check, and God knows its hardly anything to begin with. The
negative balance coming out like that is just going to cause the
family to be more and more in the hole. Please wont you help them?
The family also needs groceries as well as personal hygiene type
items like shampoo, soap, toothpaste, washing powders, etc.,
especially here at Thanksgiving and Christmas. They receive Medicaid
and food stamps but with the cost of groceries now so expensive, the
food stamps they get never last all month and they wont allow
purchases of hygiene products. I know we ask for a lot for this
family but your organization is really big and you have a lot of
people, companies, other organizations, even the government who gives
out grants for your type of work, that give you funds. Can you please
help this family? They are a special family and always so open and
eager to help other people, now they need help. I ask you this in
Jesus Christs name, please wont you help? I can try to get all the
familys bills together, the estimate for the car, etc. if you need
me to. I want to help this family to get out of the awful financial
bind that they are in. I want to help the mom keep her mobile home
and help them from getting evicted from the land lot and help them to
meet all the other obligations such as the electric, phone, cable,
etc. I also very much want to know that this so deserving family has
food to eat and clean clothes to put on and all the products they
need so badly that we all take for granted so easily like toilet
paper, soap, tooth paste, etc. I also want to know that this family
will not have to go through the holidays without having gifts for
these children. My husband and I want so badly to step in and help
them but at this time, we too are in a really terrible crunch. This
special family is substantially lacking and missing out on what so
many of us take for granted. It is amazing how much some people have
in this life and they take it for granted while others have so little
that even the most minor little thing means so much. Please can your
organization help? I know it is very hard to comprehend or even
believe a situation like this familys but I know first hand that
they are suffering and in significant poverty. No one should have to
ever decide whether to buy food or pay rent. It saddens me terribly
that they are going through so very much and knowing at the same time
that they are so deserving of help. Their daily lives are scrapping
together pennies literally. They don't have a dollar in their pocket.
Have you ever experienced your child asking you for a 99 cent candy
bar and you have to hold back tears and try to swallow the big lump
in your throat. You know you have to answer her but you just don't
know how to come up with the words to say knowing well that there is
really no way to explain to a 7 year old child that you don't have
it. Well that is their daily life and I pray and I pray that help
comes to them for their situation. This family also needs some help
with the holidays as the mom can not even provide the basics much
less any thing extra. Please can you help them? The girls have been
asking a lot for a laptop. The mom is currently taking classes online
and they need the laptop very much. Please can you help this very
loving, respectful, God fearing, beautiful family with a grant so
that they will be able to have a great Christmas and they mom can
finally get out of the hole the family is so direly facing at this
time. I am sorry to make you read through such a long email but I
really wanted to let you know as much as I could about this family
and how very deserving they are and what a blessing they are to me
and the community, and the church. If you only knew this family and
the entire situation, your heart would bust literally BUST as they
are truly a family that loves and obeys God and one who never
complains, yet thanks God for the little they do have and the mom and
the 14 year old fight daily and ask God to rebuke the illnesses out of
their bodies and they are able to continue on to do God's work when a
lot of us are 100% healthy and get lazy and not always do God's will.
They are a great example for anyone, anywhere. God bless you and your
endeavors, I really hope you will email me back soon and give me the
great news that you will help them out. No one family deserves it
more than this one does and that I will guarantee you!!!