Hi, my name is Jess and I am fundraising for a Toronto-based family in financial need. For the sake of anonymity, I will refer to the mother I am speaking about as Z, and will avoid providing identifying information. For the past three years, I have had the honour and pleasure of working for an amazing woman, Z, who is the mother of two amazing girls. Both of Z’s daughters have autism, are low-speaking, and have complex needs. When Z’s eldest child was very young and newly diagnosed with autism, Z made the difficult decision to leave her family and home country and migrate to Canada in hopes of giving her daughter more opportunity to thrive despite her disability. Unfortunately, our local governments do not provide nearly enough support for families like Z’s, whose girls need a 24/7 caregiver, speech and language pathology services, and counselling and psychotherapy services, among other forms of specialized health and medical care that is difficult to access and not often enough covered by universal healthcare insurance. Z has dedicated her entire life to giving her daughters the best life she possibly can, and it really shows. By far and away, Z is each of her daughters’ favourite person. The dedication Z gives to her daughters’ health, happiness, and well-being doesn’t allow time for her to have a job, and along with complex home and family situations, Z is in a very tight financial situation not only due to the lack of government assistance for families in need like hers, but also not receiving the child support that she is legally entitled to. Z needs some freedom and comfort, the ability to take a breath of relief, and to treat herself and her girls to more than just what they need to get by. Despite everything she has gone through, she is the most generous, loving, positive person I know. She never complains about anything, and always shares the gratitude she feels for the things she does have. But Z and her girls deserve more than just enough. That is why I am bringing this situation to your attention. Z absolutely loves Christmas, but having to allocate funds specifically for necessities hasn’t left her with enough to be able to celebrate in the way she wishes to. I would like to help her have an amazing Christmas with a huge surprise. I am asking you to, please, consider donating anything you can to the this fundraiser. I want to start the fundraising now so that by Christmas, I can put together a huge gift that includes personal items for Z, toys and personal items for her daughters, items for their home, gift cards to grocery and/or department stores, and possibly cash depending on how much money we can raise. If you are looking for a way to give directly to persons in need, this is the perfect opportunity to do so. Any amount helps. I hope that at the very least, we can give Z and her daughters an extra special Christmas. But, if enough money is raised, we can provide Z not only with money to cover needs like food, hygiene products, clothes and shoes, but also help her to be able to celebrate and enjoy Christmas with her family as she and her girls so greatly deserve. So, please, if you have anything to donate, consider donating to Z and her girls. Thank you in advance for your support towards such an important cause. In addition to the gift itself, I will be writing Z and her daughters a Christmas card and including the names of every person who donated so that she can truly feel supported and cared for by her community, which is made up of each and every one of us.