Many people know that my mom has had an extremely rough year. With many important people passing away in her life (at what seemed like all at once) you would think that it was enough to knock her down, but it wasn't. She persevered through the hardest of trials but again was knocked down when our home in New Bern flooded from a leak underneath the house. This left us staying in a hotel for months while she dealt with multiple companies who only confirmed what we knew and caused even more damage than before. We were finally blessed enough to come across a beautiful place to rent in Havelock (there were many positives to this as it was much closer to her work and closer to school for me). This meant however, that she must pay a monthly rent (which as I am sure many of you know, is not cheap these days), a monthly mortgage payment, and also pay for the repairs on the house so we could either A) move back in or B) sell it and remain in the house we are renting. So over a few months, my mom and I got by on the money insurance gave us to repair the house and live elsewhere but it came to an abrupt end in February. My mom is a single parent who has made so many sacrifices for me, ensuring I have a vehicle, cell phone, food on the table and so much more. I know that she would never ask anyone for help even if she had to, but we are struggling and any little bit definitely helps. I want to do this so that we can just get back on our feet. I thought to myself how this is "embarrassing" and how people may judge us because we are struggling but I remembered that at some point everyone else has experienced struggles and it is okay to reach out and ask for help.