Hi Everyone,


Rob, Annabelle, Herbie, and I are lucky enough to have a new family member!  Chelsea Barnes is am amazing, incredible teenager who is close to graduating from high school and starting college in September and we love her.


Chelsea has been Annabelle's babysitter since Annabelle was one and a half and Chelsea was 15.  Chelsea has always done a fantastic job as a babysitter and Annabelle has always adored her.  And so have Rob, Herbie, and I.


Now Chelsea is 18 and she is in a very difficult situation.  The details are complicated and personal, but her biological family hasn't been doing their jobs and haven't been kind to her (to say the least).  Since February she has been officially considered an "Unaccompanied Homeless Youth" by the government and the school system.  She moved out of her mother's home in November due to unfortunate circumstances and has been living on her own for almost six months in unsafe situations.


Chelsea is living with us now and has become a part of our family.  She has earned mainly As and Bs the last couple of years in school and was accepted to three UCs and many other universities.  In September, she will be attending the University of California, Santa Barbara and pursuing a career as a pediatric surgeon.  Chelsea studies constantly, works incredibly hard, and we are confident that she will be successful in college.


Right now she is lacking a lot of the basics: an official ID, health care, decent shoes, a backpack that isn't falling apart, medication she needs, etc.  Also, she wasn't helped to apply for college scholarships, even though she would have qualified for so many of them, so as of now she will graduate from college with a lot of debt.


Any donations anyone would like to make to get an amazingly hardworking, sweet, and deserving young woman off to college this year would be highly appreciated!  Any donations anyone would like to make to our new family member to help her pursue her dreams would be highly  appreciated!


Also, please read Chelsea’s story in Chelsea’s words below.


Thank you for your support!


Alice


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Hello,


My name is Chelsea and here is my story. My life has never been ideal. Growing up, I was subjected to family bullying and physical abuse from my father. I am 1 of my mother’s 5 children and we never had much, at least not for very long. I never had stability or an easy childhood. The places we called our homes were never ours for very long and in my lifetime, I attended more than 12 schools. My mother was a single mother who did what she could with the cards she was dealt, and throughout my life I learned to do the same.


At age 14 I moved to California with my mother and two younger siblings in early 2013. Unfortunately I wasn't completely free from my father because he continuously called and harassed me basically until he became bored with it. Despite this, California offered me everything I never knew existed. For the first time in my life, I attended one school, found people who wanted to support me, and I learned that I wanted to attend college. Having people who cared about my future and knowing where I wanted my life to go made my life seem better until my senior year in high school, that's when things took a turn for the worst.


My senior year began as a promising year and I looked forward to attending college in the following fall. During this time, my mother began dating a man whose intentions were questionable and, long story short, she chose to keep him around instead of me. I was homeless for two months, got myself a job, and moved into my own apartment. Eventually I got myself another job to save for college because I desperately needed extra money and had no time for scholarship applications. I worked six days per week and always dedicated whatever free time I had left to community service and leadership in my community. My apartment didn't work out the way I had hoped, considering the break-ins. Thankfully I had met a family who had grown to love me and took me in as their own.


I met this family when I was fifteen and I was their babysitter. Now, as an eighteen year old prospective college student, they have become my family. They opened their home to me and helped me in all the ways I needed. They took me to visit the colleges I was granted admission to and made sure that I was taken care of. Now that college and adulthood are approaching, I am learning about everything I will need while I am there.


Thank you for any support you’re willing to give, any support in helping me attain my dream is highly appreciated. I would also like to thank you for listening to my story and if you ever encounter anyone with a similar background, please feel free to share my story. Who knows? Maybe my story can be used to uplift others sometime in the future! Thank you for your time.


Chelsea