Hi! I’m Karissa Foster and I’m a single twin mom to four-year-old boys, Jakson & Jameson. I grew up in utter poverty with my parents heavily addicted to meth. I’ll spare you the details because I don’t even have the time it would take to explain all of the trauma that I’ve survived my entire life. I eventually found escape in my own alcoholism and drug addiction. Thank God that I was desperate enough to get sober on 8/20/2012. My parents and little brother never had that gift of desperation and clarity. When I was 7 months pregnant with my sons, they all died. On June 11th, 2021, I got a call that my mom, my dad, and my little brother all died from fentanyl poisoning, and my heart shattered. I had my boys 5 weeks later. I was alone and trying to care for my two preemie babies. I was secretly praying that I wouldn’t wake up. I’ve never felt such immense emotional, physical, and mental pain simultaneously. It is by the grace of God and the people who became my family that I was able to stay sober. I’ve come a long way since then, and the twins and I have been through homelessness and then some, including two cross-country moves to Florida and back to California. My best friend passed August 2023 from the very thing that took my family from this earth. I spent the last 5 months on state disability to tend to my mental health because I still have to fight to stay healthy so that I can be a good mom. I recently got a new job working in treatment again at an IOP program. The program is brand new and hasn’t officially opened yet, so I’ve only been getting paid for training hours, which has been about 8 total every two weeks. I am a certified permanent makeup artist, and I’ve been trying to find side work until I can start getting paid again for full-time hours, but it hasn’t been working out. I’ve borrowed money and taken out loans, and I’m flat broke again. I haven’t paid our rent yet, and I owe my school $930 for overpayment. I don’t receive child support and never have. My cutrent jobs has taken sometime to get busy and since our census is so low I’m only working 6 hours a week. I’ve applied to 3 different Starbucks locations, I do permanent make up and nails but nothing has panned out yet and Christmas is around the corner (in 33 days ) I don’t want anyone’s sympathy ever. I don’t even want to do this. I can’t stand asking for help. I feel weak, abandoned, tired, and ashamed. If you’re not able to donate, please consider praying for us or posting this page. Thank you so very much.