Support Anya's Safe and Stable Future

Please help me provide support for my granddaughter Anya. She has no father in her life, and I have been doing everything in my power to provide emotional and financial support to keep Anya and her mother safe, together, and sheltered. The funds I have used to support them are running out and I need help. The most immediate and expensive need is housing. Secondarily, if all goes well, I would like to enroll Anya in pre-school.

From the heart of a grandfather, my deepest gratitude to all able to donate.

Full story below:

One day in April 2020, while the world was experiencing the first frightening months of the Covid pandemic, my son, who had suffered and struggled for years with depression, took his own life. Nothing can prepare a person for losing a child, and I was in a state of shock. To compound my emotional turmoil, I also learned that my son was survived by an unborn child. My son was gone, but my unborn grandchild was alive and needed support and protection. My son’s girlfriend and mother of my granddaughter is a young woman who is independent and proud, but she has no living parents or siblings. The support system she needs to navigate this world with a small child simply does not exist for her. After four years of watching them live in several different places as friends stepped up to keep them from being homeless, I leased an apartment for them near me so I knew they would be safe in a place of their own and I could be a constant presence in the life of my granddaughter.

I spend time with Anya multiple days and evenings throughout the week, and when I take her the short trip home, it is to a cozy apartment that they lovingly have made their home. Anya is an energetic, bright, and loving child. We spend a lot of time at local playgrounds, parks, and pools where she makes friends easily. She is an equally wonderful and challenging part of my life. Although I am not a young man, I am planning a future for myself to be able to support Anya through her educational years.

However, I am coming to the heartbreaking realization that I simply cannot afford to continue to pay for their housing. It’s essentially costing me two years of savings to pay for one year of housing. The current situation is just not sustainable. I’m not the kind of person who finds it easy to ask for help and I know things are financially difficult for many families now, but I need to exhaust every option at my disposal. I’m desperate to provide this little girl with safety and stability. My near-term goal is to get them through another couple of years until Anya starts school and her mother can begin to work full-time.