Mom's Christmas Money Stolen

As a professor at Massasoit Community College, I often have opportunity to listen to students' life stories.  It's part of the joy and privilege of my work to do so.

One student I've come to know this semester has been Sara (a pseudonym).  Sara is in her forties and a single mother to two children--a daughter, age 15, who suffers from regular seizures, and a son, age 9.  What makes Sara remarkable is not just that she is a single mother and a mother to special needs, but that in March of 2014, she finally found a way to move her family out of a homeless shelter and into an apartment.  Six months later, she enrolled in my class because she believes that a college degree is the best way for her to begin a career and to obtain financial security for her family.  Sara just received her U.S. citizenship last week; no one in her family has ever attended college.  So Sara really is remarkable in so many ways, a woman who is beating all kinds of odds.

Sara and I connected because we both have girls with special needs who have had seizures, and because Sara is a woman of faith, tenacity, and kindness and a person I quickly came to admire.

Last week, Sara's wallet--containing over a thousand dollars she had painstakingly saved for her children's Christmas gifts (Sara works as a taxi driver)--was stolen.  When it was recovered, all the cash was gone.  
Sara told me about her wallet without asking me for any help  and without complaining at all; better, she said, to lose the money and have her family safe and healthy than to have a full wallet and be suffering in a hospital or shelter.  I know she's right.

Still, I would love to share some Christmas kindness with Sara and her family.  Our own Christmas budget is very small this year,  and perhaps yours is, too.  But if we can all find a bit of money to pool together, maybe Sara's children will have the kind of Christmas we would all want for our own kids to have.

I will collect funds through Friday, December 19th and then deliver all the money we raise to Sara so she can do her own Christmas shopping.  As a mother, I know I'd want to buy my own children's gifts, and I so appreciate you helping me help Sara do just that.  

Thanks for being a Secret Santa with me!
Melissa