Help Single Austin Mother Buy Home
Donation protected
Almost 2 years ago, a fire in North Austin ravaged through an apartment complex, displacing over a hundred people…and touching our family in an amazing way. Without hesitation, we opened our home to a family of 9 complete strangers, (3 adults, 6 children and a hamster). At that time we were blessed with more space in our home than we filled, and simply wanted to help however possible. We reached out to neighbors and friends around Austin (and the globe!) and were utterly overwhelmed by the generosity that we witnessed towards the Solis family (photographed). We have many, many wonderful memories of those few weeks – of new interactions with thoughtful neighbors and strangers, and of building a lifelong friendship with the family. There wasn’t a dry eye amongst any of us when they were finally back on their feet and moved into their new apartment.
Those memories are treasured but what struck us the most was an overwhelming sentiment that was shared with us by those who made donations. Time and time again we were thanked not just for helping people in need within the community, but for sharing the opportunity to help them. During the Christmas season, one can feel lost for how to help others and it seemed that introducing the Solis family and their plight really made people feel the true spirit of the Christmas season because their story was “here, now and relevant”.
A couple of weeks ago we stumbled across this years’ “here, now and relevant” while reading the Austin Statesman. A story about a Travis County housing scheme established to help struggling people purchase their first home made reference to a single mother of 3 boys (one with a disability) who, despite a job in the medical industry, simply couldn’t get ahead of the bills enough to ever own a home. We were stunned to learn from the journalist who wrote the piece that nobody had reached out to help this woman and immediately began tracking her down.
Ms G is quick to smile, hopeful and driven. Over tea she shared many intimate details of her life that have lead her to this point which, out of respect, I wont share here. Suffice to say she is a survivor who has prioritized her sons above all. Having returned to education at 28 to finish high school, she is now studying in addition to her full time job caring for others so that she may advance in her career in order to be a better provider, and to set a wonderful parental example. Her dream is home-ownership and she has boldly set herself the goal of closing on a home early in the New Year. Faced with student loans and insurmountable debts, it’s likely to be a lean Christmas for her family this year and the odds of ultimate success are slim.
With her permission, we have set up a GoFundMe account to help Ms. G along the path to her dream. We know that if our lives had taken even slightly different turns over the past 20 years, “there but for the grace of God” is where we could be, and we are very excited to pay our good fortune forward in this way. Will you join us?
Those memories are treasured but what struck us the most was an overwhelming sentiment that was shared with us by those who made donations. Time and time again we were thanked not just for helping people in need within the community, but for sharing the opportunity to help them. During the Christmas season, one can feel lost for how to help others and it seemed that introducing the Solis family and their plight really made people feel the true spirit of the Christmas season because their story was “here, now and relevant”.
A couple of weeks ago we stumbled across this years’ “here, now and relevant” while reading the Austin Statesman. A story about a Travis County housing scheme established to help struggling people purchase their first home made reference to a single mother of 3 boys (one with a disability) who, despite a job in the medical industry, simply couldn’t get ahead of the bills enough to ever own a home. We were stunned to learn from the journalist who wrote the piece that nobody had reached out to help this woman and immediately began tracking her down.
Ms G is quick to smile, hopeful and driven. Over tea she shared many intimate details of her life that have lead her to this point which, out of respect, I wont share here. Suffice to say she is a survivor who has prioritized her sons above all. Having returned to education at 28 to finish high school, she is now studying in addition to her full time job caring for others so that she may advance in her career in order to be a better provider, and to set a wonderful parental example. Her dream is home-ownership and she has boldly set herself the goal of closing on a home early in the New Year. Faced with student loans and insurmountable debts, it’s likely to be a lean Christmas for her family this year and the odds of ultimate success are slim.
With her permission, we have set up a GoFundMe account to help Ms. G along the path to her dream. We know that if our lives had taken even slightly different turns over the past 20 years, “there but for the grace of God” is where we could be, and we are very excited to pay our good fortune forward in this way. Will you join us?
Organizer
Tanya Dailey
Organizer
Austin, TX
