Aaliyah is a young mother doing everything she can to provide for her 6-year-old nonverbal autistic son. I first met her through the Virginia Beach Moms group, where she shared that she and her son were about to have nowhere to live. At the time, Aaliyah was working for a transportation service, renting a car through the company, and living out of it. When someone reported her situation, she lost both her job and her shelter, and Child Protective Services became involved. It seemed like she was about to lose her son and her livelihood all at once.

I knew of a shelter with openings, but the requirements were strict—she needed a job and a car to stay there. Acting quickly, I helped her find a job cleaning houses, and my daughter volunteered to work with her so she could get to the job sites. This gave Aaliyah a home, and within days, CPS cleared her case. However, since my daughter is working with Aaliyah, they have to split the earnings, making it difficult for Aaliyah to save enough to move forward. She has been in the shelter for three weeks now, applied for support funding, and is working hard to get her life back on track.

Aaliyah is an impressive young woman who has managed to get all her ducks in a row faster than anyone could have expected. But she still needs a vehicle. The shelter has been lenient, but to move out and into her own home, she needs to make a full income, which means being able to get to job sites herself. She is doing all of this while caring for her son, and I know that with a reliable vehicle, she could be in her own place within months. I believe it's our duty to help where we can. Aaliyah is trying so hard to give her son shelter and a better life, and I hope others will want to be part of helping her too. I can't do it alone.