Thomas John Schmitt, II; helping his children!

Hello and thank you for taking the time to read this. My name is Sara and I have created this donation request to help my friend Stephanie and her five beautiful children she shared with Tom. This past week, Thomas “Tom” Schmitt, passed away leaving behind Tommy, Isabella, Ameilia, Ellinore and Francesca.

After 16 years of marriage to Tom that ended in 2018, Stephanie found herself, a single parent, raising their five children on her own. For any single parent of even one child you know the juggling act all too well and Stephanie had to figure out how to

do this with five children. Then add the COVID pandemic that shut down schools and made every parent in America a homeschool teacher with the kids home all hours of every day. Then the increases in the cost of living forced Stephanie to make some radical life changes, uprooting her and her kids and moving them from Florida to New York to a more affordable living situation with family. With a touch of help from her mom and five minutes to herself, Stephanie did not waste a minute to use that five minutes to go back to school to study forensic psychology.

The passing of Tom has not only left a hole in all their hearts but it has placed a financial strain on them all. Tom served in the Navy for six years so a portion of the funeral expenses will be reimbursed to us but future child support that Tom provided is unknown at this time and will take quite a while to sort out.

Even as I type this, young Tommy is on a flight to New York to meet Stephanie, so all six of them can then drive to Ohio and claim Tom’s remains. Since Stephanie and Tom were divorced this left Tommy as his next of kin. Can you imagine what this is like for a kid of 19 to have to deal with this?

If you have read to this point then let me thank you again. If you have it in your heart to say a prayer for my friend and her children please do. And if you have the means to help them with a donation then on behalf of Tommy, Isabella, Ameilia, Ellinore, Francesca and Stephanie I say “God Bless You!”