Rebuilding the Foundation for M's Family

Building a foundation is not easy. It takes hard work, perseverance, and sometimes, even rivers of tears and sleepless nights. Rebuilding a foundation takes those qualities plus so much more, especially when one is starting almost literally from scratch. Nevertheless, if enough generosity of kindness gets sprinkled into the mix, the new foundation becomes as solid as a diamond formed from coal under the exposure of pressure & the passage of time.

My friend M is a mother of four and professional here in Lawrence, KS. On what began as an otherwise normal day back in February of this year and after years of faithfully trying to make work what ultimately proved to be an abusive relationship, M was rather abruptly abandoned in another city late on a Friday night (supposedly a date night) and also informed that she & her kids would no longer be living in what was once she & her partner's shared home. In addition to the psycho-emotional trauma of that experience, the financial consequences were devastating as well. Just the day before her partner unilaterally & unexpectedly ended their relationship, M had used a substantial portion of her tax refund & a recent paycheck to pay down/off shared bills. As there was no expectation of the trauma to come, doing so left M with barely enough money to move her & her children's personal belongings and possessions into storage, as well as to find a new place to live for her & her children.

At the start of this campaign that I started for my friend, M was employed (though the turmoil M underwent did require her to take a week off from her then part-time job) and was seeking second job because her financial situation was dire due to being suddenly homeless, plus the high cost of living in a college town and of raising three teenaged boys still living at home (moving out of Lawrence is NOT an option). However, since the campaign's inception, not only had M been unable to secure that 2nd job, but also she suffered a near catastrophic blow by becoming stunningly unemployed in recent months.*

Therefore, while originally the hopes were that enough folks would donate whatever amounts they could spare in order to help M pay off the debts incurred during her devastatingly unexpected move and to help her keep up with costs of renting a new residence and monthly living expenses during her search for a 2nd job as strictly a short-term/stop gap measure, now this small, yet mighty campaign represents a very VITAL and immensely NECESSARY financial lifeline for M & her family. Without this vital and necessary lifeline, as she has continued to battle back through the proverbial darkness & clouds that have surrounded her for almost this entire year in an effort heal from those tremendous wounds (with the aid of medication, intensive psychotherapy, and a beautiful service dog named Lucy) and maintain her earnest search for a new, fulfilling, healthy, full-time work environment in our home area, M would undoubtedly have become another casualty, just another sad statistic in our beloved country's rich history of negative statistics affecting women in general, but especially the statistics for women of color in our country.

Friends, if ever there were a good cause, this kind & caring woman, mother, friend  and her family is definitely it. M is hard-working, responsible, and determined to overcome these difficult and most challenging circumstances. All she needs is a little extra kindness upon which to rebuild the foundation of her life. If we can give her the support & resources that she needs, then she'll hopefully be able to find the strength to pull up the old bootstraps to get herself and her children to a stable, safe, and positive place in life. Let's show her & her family that they're not alone and that there's a network of good people behind them always. 

To M's Village (represented by family, friends, and acquaintances known & unknown), both near & far,
Please know that from the bottom of M's heart, she is grateful beyond measure. Many, many, many thanks to you all in advance for your generosity of kindness!!! ❤️❤️❤️

~Nancy Baker, on behalf of my friend, M (story updated, 12/19/18)


*A situational change explained as well as possible in an update written & posted by M a couple of months back in this campaign.