Save Sarah’s Shelter
Donation protected
I’d like to introduce you to my sister, Sarah.
Sarah is a caring, devoted single mom, raising a rambunctious, sweet son named Josiah. The two of them are as lively and giving a pair as you are ever liable to meet.
Sarah started working and living independently at the age of 18, putting off school so she could earn and help her family. Now, she teaches art, crafts, and runs activities for a local, long-term therapeutic hospital. One day she hopes to get a Masters in counseling and become officially certified as an art therapist. Eight years ago, she was taking her first steps toward that goal, working as she pursued a BFA, and living in a shared family home next to Neely Henry Lake.
Then on April 27th, 2011, the tornadoes came.
Our step-father's first words as he surveyed the devastation was, "It's gone, it's all gone!" He was right. The house, the family vehicles, and even the forest that had surrounded us, were all laid low by the merciless storms. Still, we come from a family of survivors. Everyone dusted themselves off and began to rebuild, and no one with more spirited gumption, effort or faith than my sister, Sarah.
But a tornado doesn't just hit and run. It leaves another storm in its wake, a gathering cloud of anxiety and endless, relentless debt.
Over the course of eight years, she got her bachelor's in fine art and was starting to work on her counseling degree. She helped troubled youths learn how to express themselves in creative, non-destructive ways, while working long hours and then coming home to study. Finally, with the help of a few loans from companies who prey on people like her (hardworking but struggling), she managed to secure a modest trailer, a place she could call mostly her own. But while she smiled for her family and her students, she could hear the rumbling overhead, that lingering storm of rising debt she was just barely able to beat in increasingly desperate measures.
Inevitably, thanks to nonpayment for many of her rendered services, a few unavoidable hospital bills that demanded all of our attention, and a tax return that fell through in part due to a recent government shut down, she's fallen behind and those dark clouds moved on in. Now, she's on the verge of losing her home and the progress she managed to make, yet again.
I'm not entirely sure she can survive this one. I'm not sure anyone could. Not without some help.
Currently, with all the various bills, mortgages, and loans due, she is faced with an amount she simply can not manage. She's not looking for the full amount she owes, just enough of it to keep her home and give her the time she needs to pay the rest as she continues to work and strive toward her dream. On her behalf, I humbly ask for your generous aide, to help my sister weather this secondary storm so she can get back on her feet and do all of the good I know she is capable of doing.
Our Goal is $10,000, the majority of which will go toward the mortgage, a couple of secondary loans that helped pay expenses while her family was homeless, and a couple of hospital bills that came up over the course of the past eight years. I thank you for any help or support you may offer, no matter how small. Most of all, I thank you for listening to her story and ask that you share it with others.
Sarah is a very special young woman and the best sister or mother anyone could hope to have. Please help us to help her so she can continue to do what she does best: help others.
Sarah is a caring, devoted single mom, raising a rambunctious, sweet son named Josiah. The two of them are as lively and giving a pair as you are ever liable to meet.
Sarah started working and living independently at the age of 18, putting off school so she could earn and help her family. Now, she teaches art, crafts, and runs activities for a local, long-term therapeutic hospital. One day she hopes to get a Masters in counseling and become officially certified as an art therapist. Eight years ago, she was taking her first steps toward that goal, working as she pursued a BFA, and living in a shared family home next to Neely Henry Lake.
Then on April 27th, 2011, the tornadoes came.
Our step-father's first words as he surveyed the devastation was, "It's gone, it's all gone!" He was right. The house, the family vehicles, and even the forest that had surrounded us, were all laid low by the merciless storms. Still, we come from a family of survivors. Everyone dusted themselves off and began to rebuild, and no one with more spirited gumption, effort or faith than my sister, Sarah.
But a tornado doesn't just hit and run. It leaves another storm in its wake, a gathering cloud of anxiety and endless, relentless debt.
Over the course of eight years, she got her bachelor's in fine art and was starting to work on her counseling degree. She helped troubled youths learn how to express themselves in creative, non-destructive ways, while working long hours and then coming home to study. Finally, with the help of a few loans from companies who prey on people like her (hardworking but struggling), she managed to secure a modest trailer, a place she could call mostly her own. But while she smiled for her family and her students, she could hear the rumbling overhead, that lingering storm of rising debt she was just barely able to beat in increasingly desperate measures.
Inevitably, thanks to nonpayment for many of her rendered services, a few unavoidable hospital bills that demanded all of our attention, and a tax return that fell through in part due to a recent government shut down, she's fallen behind and those dark clouds moved on in. Now, she's on the verge of losing her home and the progress she managed to make, yet again.
I'm not entirely sure she can survive this one. I'm not sure anyone could. Not without some help.
Currently, with all the various bills, mortgages, and loans due, she is faced with an amount she simply can not manage. She's not looking for the full amount she owes, just enough of it to keep her home and give her the time she needs to pay the rest as she continues to work and strive toward her dream. On her behalf, I humbly ask for your generous aide, to help my sister weather this secondary storm so she can get back on her feet and do all of the good I know she is capable of doing.
Our Goal is $10,000, the majority of which will go toward the mortgage, a couple of secondary loans that helped pay expenses while her family was homeless, and a couple of hospital bills that came up over the course of the past eight years. I thank you for any help or support you may offer, no matter how small. Most of all, I thank you for listening to her story and ask that you share it with others.
Sarah is a very special young woman and the best sister or mother anyone could hope to have. Please help us to help her so she can continue to do what she does best: help others.
Organizer
Carol Magnus
Organizer
Calera, AL