(picture of the Holloways with their pastor and first lady)

Shelomith is a grandmother who has found herself carrying a weight no one should ever have to bear alone. Through heartbreaking and unimaginable circumstances, all five of her grandchildren—three of them with special needs—are now in her sole care. The girls are 3, 5, 9, and 14, and the little boy is 4. On top of caring for them, she is still raising two of her own daughters at home, ages 17 and 18. She is a single mother and grandmother doing everything she can to hold her family together with seven children depending on her.

Even with her own health challenges—living with a heart pacemaker, chronic pain, and days where walking is almost impossible—she refuses to give up. She still gets up, still shows up, and still pours love, structure, and stability into these kids every day. With the help of family and friends who support her when her body can’t, she has continued to fight. She secured temporary legal guardianship and is now pushing forward for permanent guardianship so the children stay together and stay out of the system.

On top of everything else, she does all of this without a car. Every appointment—school, therapy, doctor visits—means walking with the children to the bus stop and riding public transportation there and back. When an appointment is too far or requires multiple transfers, she has no choice but to use Uber or Lyft, which adds even more financial strain to a situation that is already overwhelming.

Behind her strength is a woman who is exhausted and doing her best to keep up. Her income is limited. Her rent keeps rising. And the fear of losing the only home these children feel safe in weighs on her constantly. Every single day she faces choices no caregiver should have to make—buying medicine or buying groceries, paying the light bill or getting shoes for the kids, covering rent or putting gas money aside for rides to appointments.

Shelomith has always been the strong one. The helper. The one who would give you her last dollar and pretend she didn’t need it. Asking for help goes against who she is, but she is out of options and fighting with everything she has left to keep her family together.

Your support can give her what she desperately needs right now: stability, relief, and room to breathe. Donations will help her keep a roof over their heads, cover basic essentials for the children, provide transportation to necessary appointments, and continue the legal battle to protect them permanently.

If you feel led to help, please know that every single dollar is a blessing. Thank you for seeing her, for caring, and for giving hope to a grandmother who refuses to give up, no matter how heavy the burden.