Hi, my name is Amber, and I’m reaching out with an open heart to ask for help for my mother and me.
My mother has spent her entire life taking care of other people. She was a single mother who raised three children on her own, often working multiple jobs to provide for us and give us the best life she possibly could. At one point, she was working three jobs, including as a bus monitor, because making sure her children, whether they were her own by blood or not, were taken care of was always her priority.
Her love and generosity never stopped with her own children. Throughout my childhood and throughout our lives, my mother opened her home and her heart to anyone who needed her. She took in her nieces and helped care for their children. She welcomed my friends, their siblings, and even their parents. She has been a mother figure to so many people who have entered our lives. If someone needed somewhere to stay, a meal, help, or simply someone who cared, my mother was that person.
Unfortunately, while working as a bus monitor, my mother was involved in a serious accident. The bus driver purposely slammed on the brakes, causing my mother to be thrown from the back of the bus toward the front. She landed extremely her tailbone, breaking it in three different places. The injuries from that accident caused serious problems with her lower extremities and mobility. Over time, her condition became so difficult that she could no longer walk or do many of the things she once did independently.
For someone who spent her entire life being the person everyone else depended on, suddenly needing help herself has taken an enormous physical and emotional toll.
Unfortunately, now that my mother is the one in need, we have found that the same support and kindness she so freely gave to others has not always been returned to her. She spent so much of her life opening her doors, helping families, and being there for people whenever they needed her. Now that she is the one who needs help, there simply haven’t been many people there to do the same for her.
Recently, my mother and I experienced homelessness. Watching the woman who spent her entire life making sure everyone else had a home suddenly not have one herself was heartbreaking, especially knowing the physical and emotional condition she was already in. What hurt me the most was watching her feel helpless, knowing there was very little she could do to change our situation.
To me, my mother has always been Superwoman. I grew up believing there was nothing she couldn’t handle and nothing she couldn’t overcome. She was always the person who found a way, who opened her doors, who helped others, and who somehow made everything okay. Seeing her in a position where she couldn’t give or help in the ways she always had was one of the hardest things I have ever experienced.
I felt like I had let her down. After everything she sacrificed for me, my siblings, our family, and so many others, I felt like I should have been able to protect her from ever experiencing something like that. It was incredibly painful to watch someone who had spent her whole life being there for everyone else suddenly need someone to be there for her.
But we kept going.
Thankfully, we were able to secure a home of our own. These four walls are currently all we have. We don’t even have furniture in our apartment yet, but honestly, that doesn’t matter to us right now. After experiencing homelessness, having a roof over our heads and having each other means more than having a fully furnished home ever could. As long as my mother and I have a roof over our heads and each other, we can make any four walls our home.
Having a place to call home again has given us hope, but we are still trying to overcome the financial challenges that came with getting here. My biggest goal is to make sure we can keep these four walls and never have to experience homelessness again.
I am currently a full-time medical assisting student, working toward my goal of continuing my education in radiology and building a career in healthcare. Despite everything that has happened, I have worked hard to stay committed to my education. In the midst of everything we have been going through, I have maintained a 3.0 GPA and perfect attendance.
I also want people to understand that I am not looking for a handout or sitting back waiting for someone to come to our rescue. I am doing everything I can to help myself and my mother. I am open to any honest work that is available to me. I have done lawn work for people, cleaned apartment buildings, cleaned homes for previous neighbors, walked dogs, and taken on whatever work I could find to bring in extra money.
I also make and sell custom-made false strip eyelashes at affordable prices. I started doing this because I wanted to find another way to earn money and put as much as I possibly could toward our security deposit.
I am working, going to school, caring for my mother, and trying to build a better future all at the same time. I am not expecting anyone else to do the work for me. I am simply asking for some help getting through a situation that has become bigger than what I can manage on my own.
At the same time, I am my mother’s full-time caregiver. Because of her disabilities and limited mobility, she cannot do many everyday things for herself. I help her with the things she needs while also trying to maintain my education and work toward becoming financially independent.
I feel that it is now my duty to return the favor to her.
My mother spent her life taking care of me, my siblings, her nieces, their children, my friends, and so many other people. Now that she needs someone to take care of her, I want to be that person. I want to make sure that she never has to experience homelessness or that kind of uncertainty again.
Right now, I am asking for help with the remaining balance of our security deposit. Having that taken care of would give us peace of mind and help us maintain the stable housing we worked so hard to obtain.
I am also hoping to eventually raise enough money to purchase a reliable vehicle. Having transportation would make an enormous difference in our lives. It would allow me to get to school and clinicals, continue my education, care for my mother, get her to appointments, work more opportunities, and give us the independence and stability that we currently struggle to have.
I know I have a long way to go. I don’t have everything figured out, and balancing school, work, caregiving, and everything else has been incredibly challenging. But I am trying my absolute best. I am determined to succeed, finish my education, continue toward a career in radiology, and build a better life for my mother and myself.
We have already overcome homelessness, uncertainty, and circumstances that I never imagined we would have to face. Now that we finally have a home, I want to do everything in my power to make sure my mother never has to experience that again.
She spent her life being there for everyone else, whether they were family by blood or simply family by heart.
Now, I want to be there for her.
If you are able to donate, every dollar will bring us closer to paying the remaining security deposit and creating a more stable foundation for our future. If you cannot donate, sharing our fundraiser would mean just as much and could help us reach someone who can.
Thank you for taking the time to read our story, for believing in us, and for helping my mother and me continue moving forward
