Let's help my friend Sidney!

Dear Friends and Community,

I’m reaching out to you today to ask for some help on behalf of a good friend. Due to the nature of the post and privacy reasons for the child, the names of my friend and the child have been changed.

I first met my friend Sidney years ago through my brother and my first impression was one of an incredibly warm, caring, and compassionate woman. She immediately treated me like her family and has ever since. She is someone who would literally give you the shirt off of her back. It is because of her huge heart and caretaking nature that she has found herself suddenly caring for a 9-year-old girl, Emily.

Emily is a 9-year-old bright, sensitive and sweet girl who Sidney has lived near for several years, but who she has gotten to know more in recent months after learning about Emily’s home environment. Emily comes from an unfortunate and challenging background of severe parental addictions, significant neglect, and abuse. Over the past several months Sidney became more and more involved in Emily’s care and, ultimately, when the situation arose in June that Emily needed to immediately leave her parental house for safety, Sidney didn’t think twice to offer her care and home as a safe and loving landing pad for Emily.

Navigating new single parenthood comes with a unique set of challenges, both emotionally and financially. Sidney is beyond thrilled to have Emily in her care and has been working tirelessly to provide a stable and loving environment for her, while juggling responsibilities as both a caregiver and in her work life where she is self-employed.

As we can all imagine, the financial strain of managing all of this on her own and with very short notice is overwhelming. Sidney is starting from scratch to provide for Emily and has already spent thousands of dollars in expenses involved with being the provider for a 9-year-old.

So, we’re asking for your help.

I've created this GoFundMe to gather support for Sidney as she takes on this new responsibility. Because of the nature of Emily’s background and how she came into Sidney’s care, Sidney may face substantial legal fees to keep Emily safe. Sidney also needs to get Emily to the dentist for the first time in her life and have Emily receive counseling, which runs up to $200/session. Being self employed, Sidney does not have a benefit plan to cover these expenses for Emily.

Your donation goes directly towards those costs as well as essential expenses such as clothing, school equipment, groceries, day to day expenses, activities this summer for Emily, as well as any other unexpected costs associated with providing amazing care for this beautiful, bright little girl.

We deeply appreciate your consideration! No donation is too small.

With gratitude,

Sidney, Emily, and Celeste