Help Our Neighbor & Friend, Madi Smith.

My son met Madison in school last year, and they have been friends ever since. She shared her story with him, and we felt that we needed to do something to help her through her circumstances. Here is an overview of Madison Smith’s situation in her own words:

“Hi, I’m Madi. I am 18 and I am a senior in high school. In August my father unfortunately became very sick, struggling to see and dealing with memory loss. He was hospitalized later that month and we discovered he had sustained permanent damage to his brain. As he has been hospitalized ever since, I have been living independently whilst still attending school and working. Recently, rent has become a major problem. My father was a single parent, and we do not have any extended family living in the area. Although I moved to Downers Grove only ~2 years ago, I have found a home in the community and have loved running Track/XC as well as participating in the art program at DGN. I have worked my hardest academically, becoming a National Merit Semifinalist and I will be attending an ivy league college on scholarship in 2022, but in order to reach my goals I have to graduate high school. I want to stay in an apartment in Downers Grove in order to finish the year at my school and to avoid being taken into a homeless shelter if possible. In order to do this, money is needed so I can afford to pay rent and move from my dad’s current apartment (whose lease is being terminated later this month), into a one bedroom apartment. I really appreciate any kind of support, and it means the world to me that there are people that care about kids going through situations like mine, that are difficult to talk about and we often feel alone in.”

If you’d like to view some of Madi’s art that was recently in the Mosaic Art Show at DGN, see this link: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1gftrR9l2mTQB-75YqoUThssErbHFSCwN?usp=sharing

We know that Downers Grove is a strong, unified, and caring community that would be willing to help our friend. Sharing this post helps. Anything helps. Thank you.