Help Morristown Mom reunite family
Donation protected
Hello – my name is Heidi Lebel and while I’ve supported many causes in my life, never have I felt so compelled to help one very special little girl and her family. I’m looking to raise money for a broken family that has endured domestic violence, financial hardship, and sadly, a family divided. Since domestic violence is involved, I prefer not to use names. I’m hoping to raise enough money to help this Mom to find a home for her children, to pay for a security deposit, essentials for the children, moving costs and hopefully a modest used car for transportation in the next 8-weeks; before the holiday break in December.
The story is about a friend of my youngest daughter that came for a weekend sleepover in March of this year and when I discovered what was happening in her young life, I called her Mom and offered to keep her daughter living in our home until the end of the school year in June. June came and went and we’re now into the new school year and this strong, loving child is still living with us but I want to try and do something special to help her Mom take those two steps forward and continue to finally reunite her 3 children once again.
So many positive things are starting to go in the right direction for this Mom, however, no matter how much progress she makes, there are constant obstacles. I would like to share a bit of the story to help you understand why I believe she just needs a little more help to break down the obstacles and get her back together with all of her children.
One year ago in October 2015, this family (Mom, Dad and 3 children) had to leave their current home which they rented in Morristown because the owners decided to sell the home. At that time, the Mom had just finished her associate’s degree and had also been working part-time training as a surgical technician. There was a chance that she could possibly get a better paying job outside of the Morristown area so rather than locking into another rent, she and her children went to live with her biological Mother in Irvington NJ and her husband stayed with his family. Unfortunately, the new job never materialized so the Mom continued to drive her 3 children to Morristown (about 25 miles each direction) every day. She would leave the children with her Minister’s family until it was time to put them on a bus for each of their 3 respective schools (elementary, middle and high school).
She continued to look for a full-time position while living with her biological mother in a 2 bedroom apartment with 9 other people. Unfortunately, many things changed after one evening in early 2016 when the father showed up intoxicated at the apartment where she was living with her children. Luckily, he was not able to enter the dwelling, but he took out his rage on the only transportation that the Mother had and destroyed it to a point beyond repair. This was the beginning of the spiral downward. Without a car, the children had to takes buses, trains and taxi’s to get to school. The Mom had to file a restraining order and go to court multiple times. She had to miss several days of work to deal with the courts and combined with transportation issues, she ultimately lost her job and her car which could not be repaired was repossessed.
Slowly she gained her strength to continue and worked part-time for two jobs over the next several months until most recently, she was offered a full time job at a hospital in Morris County. With now having a job in Morris County, she was able to gain support from the local schools (3 separate schools) to get transportation for her boys to get to school in Morristown. She’s applied for Section-8 housing, but finding this type of government housing in Morristown to meet the requirements due to having 3 children of different genders is not easy. Worse yet, because her children are 2 sons (elementary and high school) and a daughter in middle school, there are no shelters that accept that diversity of age and gender and nothing is open to help support her family.
We have taken this lovely, kind, respectful 13 year-old child into our home, we have helped to support her in every way we can, we have helped the Mom to pay for her storage unit so that her goods would not go to auction, but more than anything, I want to help this Mom reunite with all 3 of her children under one roof and hopefully allow her to stay in Morristown where the children can continue with at least one constant with their education.
Sometimes it’s about helping one family at a time and I would greatly appreciate any support you are able to offer to help close the gap. Even with government aid, this Mom needs to cover up to 2 months of security deposit, getting basic essentials for the children, moving costs and ideally some form of used car to aid with transportation. Our goal is to help her get into housing before end of this year and to be together for the holidays. Thank you so much for taking the time to read about this family in need and for any support you’re able to offer.
Thank you also to so many friends that have helped me over the past several months with providing transportation, clothing, assistance on weekends, support with summer camp and help watching this little girl when I wasn’t able to be home…your kindness is greatly appreciated!
Warm regards,
Heidi
The story is about a friend of my youngest daughter that came for a weekend sleepover in March of this year and when I discovered what was happening in her young life, I called her Mom and offered to keep her daughter living in our home until the end of the school year in June. June came and went and we’re now into the new school year and this strong, loving child is still living with us but I want to try and do something special to help her Mom take those two steps forward and continue to finally reunite her 3 children once again.
So many positive things are starting to go in the right direction for this Mom, however, no matter how much progress she makes, there are constant obstacles. I would like to share a bit of the story to help you understand why I believe she just needs a little more help to break down the obstacles and get her back together with all of her children.
One year ago in October 2015, this family (Mom, Dad and 3 children) had to leave their current home which they rented in Morristown because the owners decided to sell the home. At that time, the Mom had just finished her associate’s degree and had also been working part-time training as a surgical technician. There was a chance that she could possibly get a better paying job outside of the Morristown area so rather than locking into another rent, she and her children went to live with her biological Mother in Irvington NJ and her husband stayed with his family. Unfortunately, the new job never materialized so the Mom continued to drive her 3 children to Morristown (about 25 miles each direction) every day. She would leave the children with her Minister’s family until it was time to put them on a bus for each of their 3 respective schools (elementary, middle and high school).
She continued to look for a full-time position while living with her biological mother in a 2 bedroom apartment with 9 other people. Unfortunately, many things changed after one evening in early 2016 when the father showed up intoxicated at the apartment where she was living with her children. Luckily, he was not able to enter the dwelling, but he took out his rage on the only transportation that the Mother had and destroyed it to a point beyond repair. This was the beginning of the spiral downward. Without a car, the children had to takes buses, trains and taxi’s to get to school. The Mom had to file a restraining order and go to court multiple times. She had to miss several days of work to deal with the courts and combined with transportation issues, she ultimately lost her job and her car which could not be repaired was repossessed.
Slowly she gained her strength to continue and worked part-time for two jobs over the next several months until most recently, she was offered a full time job at a hospital in Morris County. With now having a job in Morris County, she was able to gain support from the local schools (3 separate schools) to get transportation for her boys to get to school in Morristown. She’s applied for Section-8 housing, but finding this type of government housing in Morristown to meet the requirements due to having 3 children of different genders is not easy. Worse yet, because her children are 2 sons (elementary and high school) and a daughter in middle school, there are no shelters that accept that diversity of age and gender and nothing is open to help support her family.
We have taken this lovely, kind, respectful 13 year-old child into our home, we have helped to support her in every way we can, we have helped the Mom to pay for her storage unit so that her goods would not go to auction, but more than anything, I want to help this Mom reunite with all 3 of her children under one roof and hopefully allow her to stay in Morristown where the children can continue with at least one constant with their education.
Sometimes it’s about helping one family at a time and I would greatly appreciate any support you are able to offer to help close the gap. Even with government aid, this Mom needs to cover up to 2 months of security deposit, getting basic essentials for the children, moving costs and ideally some form of used car to aid with transportation. Our goal is to help her get into housing before end of this year and to be together for the holidays. Thank you so much for taking the time to read about this family in need and for any support you’re able to offer.
Thank you also to so many friends that have helped me over the past several months with providing transportation, clothing, assistance on weekends, support with summer camp and help watching this little girl when I wasn’t able to be home…your kindness is greatly appreciated!
Warm regards,
Heidi
Organizer
Heidi Lebel
Organizer
Morristown, NJ