Family needs a "hand up", not "hand out"

Please Help if you're able!

Hey Everyone!  I have an employee who is in desperate need of help to get back on her feet.  Brandy has worked for me for nearly 5 years years.  Due to quite a long run of bad luck, she & her family have been living in a hotel room for several months.  She makes decent money and CAN afford to pay rent, utilities, etc.  But living in this hotel and having to eat fast food (since there is no kitchen in their room), is taking so much of her pay that she is unable to save & get ahead. 
In 2010 her fiance lost his job after the BP oil spill. It took him nearly 2 years to find another job.  It is not in his related field & is only part time.  

In February 2011 just a few days after her 34th birthday she suffered a heart attack. 
8 months later, her mother passed away.  Her mother lived with her for several years due to an extended illness and needed to be cared for. 
After her Mom died, they couldn't bear to stay in the same house.  They moved near her Aunt in a town about 20 miles away. 
Both of their dogs were killed by passing cars within 6 months of their move. 
In September the only car they had broke down & they could not afford the cost of repairs.  Out of desperation, they moved back to Slidell into a hotel room so they could get to & from work AND keep their 2 daughters (ages 8 & 14) within the school district, (while they lived in the neighboring town they were driving the girls to & from school).  
Simply keeping a roof over their heads & food in their bellies is taking such a large percentage of her pay, I don't see how she will ever be able to save and get out of this hole. It breaks my heart (along with all of the other employees), to see her struggling so hard. 
She has too much pride to ask for help so we have started collecting donations in hope of getting enough money together before her birthday (mid-Feb), to pay first months rent & deposit and possibly buy them a few items of furniture & put some groceries in the refrigerator so she has a chance to get back on top. 
I realize times are tough for us all, but they are tougher still for some others.  No one of us alone can shoulder the cost of getting Brandy & her family back into a home, but I believe with a little help from a lot of people, we CAN do this without any one person feeling a financial kick.  Absolutely ANY help you are able to offer is DEEPLY appreciated, by me, by Brandy & her family, and by all of us that care about them.