Hi, my name is Matt, and I am a 32-year-old single father with sole custody of my oldest son, Micah, who is currently 6 years old! I also have an 11-month-old, Kayden. So, my story is that I was born into a household where both my mother and father were in full-blown addiction. My mother left me in my mesh playpen while my dad was gone out of state working for weeks at a time. At roughly 2 months old, my mother left me in that playpen and left me alone in the house to go and get high and never came back. Two days later, police were called due to a baby screaming from the place next door. The police responded, broke down the door, and found me covered in my own poop, with cockroaches crawling all over me and my playpen. I obviously have no recollection of this myself but have sadly been able to confirm through police reports as well as CPS records.

Fast forward roughly 5 years or so (to where I can start to remember), my father, although being a lifelong drug addict, had fought for custody of me and won! I was finally home and what I thought would be a loving home with my father. I then quickly learned and learned fast that my father had very serious issues of his own. He would go into fits of rage and beat me unconscious for seemingly no reason. His addiction progressed along with the physical abuse. In between this time, I was taken from my father by CPS 10 separate times, every time wanting to go back home with my abusive father rather than being alone in a foster home.

As I grew into my teens, the lifestyle I was exposed to started to change who I was and my perception of life and things, and I ended up briefly following in my father's footsteps—something I had promised myself I would never do to myself or my children when I had them! So, I made a commitment to myself, and with the strength and grace of Jesus Christ, my Lord and Savior, and our almighty God, I was saved and pulled out of my addiction. I pulled myself out of and away from that negative lifestyle and started to embrace a new lifestyle where I would be a good and honest man—a hardworking man! And that is what I have done!

I was able to start a small construction business, working for myself, and things were going well. My firstborn had come, and that is when I really started working hard to make sure he would never have to see the things I've seen, feel the way I've felt, and hurt the way I've hurt. Unfortunately, his mother had slipped into the opioid epidemic and overdosed shortly after I had dropped him off there. From there came a vicious experience of having to fight against the state and prove to them over and over that I am more than capable of supporting and providing for my son myself fully! After 3 long and exhausting years, I finally got full custody! Praise be to God!

Since then, things were absolutely amazing! Then the mother of my second child decided that although she was pregnant and ready to burst with our baby, she did not want to be a stepmother to my oldest son, essentially giving me the option to either leave my oldest son behind to start a new life with her and our newborn, which I was obviously unable and unwilling to do. So, sadly, she took our newborn and moved back home with her parents, leaving me with all of the bills and financial responsibilities that we had originally only got as a couple with dual income. I have been able to keep up with bills and provide for my sons, having full custody of my 6-year-old and also being financially supportive in my newborn's life.

But this last month has just completely changed everything! My uncle, who was the last of my family besides myself and my sons, had passed away, and I was the only one left. My uncle didn’t have anything himself, so I have had to take multiple weeks out of work. I have had to use essentially almost all of the money I had saved to be able to pay for the funeral expenses and everything else involved in the passing. And now the one single person that me and my sons do have as a close friend, and is my oldest's godfather, is now in the hospital with his kidneys failing. The contract that was to keep myself working throughout this fall and winter has completely fallen through. I am roughly one week away from having to pay all of my monthly bills, which I do not have, and I simply do not know what else to do. I am out looking for work every single day, but as a single father, it severely restricts my ability to work at times. I have been praying to God about what to do because I am not a person who asks for a handout. I honestly feel ashamed to be doing this at all, but the well-being of my children and the security they need is way more important than my ego and my feelings.

So, I am coming before everyone humbly asking that if you have been blessed enough to be able to help us, it will be extremely helpful, and we will be extremely grateful and thankful! It will then give us the ability to be able to help others who are in my situation or may end up in my situation.

With that being said, I won’t take up any more of anyone’s time. If you have made it this far, even if you don’t donate, I truly appreciate you listening to my story and possibly helping me get this out there so I am able to be the father that I promised myself and my children I would be for them!!

All Funds will be 1st used to pay any and All IMMEDIATE BILLS DUE!, from there, I am planning on using the rest of the funds to start some type of accounts or Trusts, so that when I pass, my sons will have something to leave them with, if we are able to meet the Entire goal! Then I will officially be starting my own charity account for All other families and parents in need!!

thank you everyone!

God bless ❤️