Get Handicapped Mom Access Outside
Donation protected
***Update*** Thank you to everyone that has donated. Melissa will be using this money to catch up on her utility bills and is about half way there. This will help her so much in her fresh start and she is so sweet an wants everyone to know that is what she will be using it for. Thank you again everyone.
Melissa Pacheco, a mother of four children, was shot and robbed in 2011, and became paralyzed from the chest down. Confined to a wheelchair, she lives on the third floor of an apartment building which has no handicap access. Melissa’s only way outside is if someone carries her down three flights of stairs. When her two teenage sons lived with her, they took turns carrying her, but they have since moved out. It is extremely difficult for her to raise her two children still at home when she is isolated from her community. The simplest tasks such as going grocery shopping, getting her children to school activities and just even the simple pleasures of playing with her children outside are logistical nightmares.
My name is Jodi, and I am a single mother that met Melissa last year when I walked into the wrong movie theater and she was the last one in there. After hearing her story, I had to try and help, so I took these photos of her and posted it on my website (www.facebook.com/thewomenofstrength). We have since become friends and she truly is a beautiful and kind person.
Despite the attention and reaction from various local city resources, it has been a year and a half and still no new home has been found for Melissa and her children. I am starting this gofundme entirely for Melissa, in hopes that maybe enough money will be raised to enable her to get a place that is wheelchair accessible. Any extra funds would go towards making life a little easier for Melissa and her two youngest children as they continue to figure out how to combat the challenges they face on a daily basis.
Melissa Pacheco, a mother of four children, was shot and robbed in 2011, and became paralyzed from the chest down. Confined to a wheelchair, she lives on the third floor of an apartment building which has no handicap access. Melissa’s only way outside is if someone carries her down three flights of stairs. When her two teenage sons lived with her, they took turns carrying her, but they have since moved out. It is extremely difficult for her to raise her two children still at home when she is isolated from her community. The simplest tasks such as going grocery shopping, getting her children to school activities and just even the simple pleasures of playing with her children outside are logistical nightmares.
My name is Jodi, and I am a single mother that met Melissa last year when I walked into the wrong movie theater and she was the last one in there. After hearing her story, I had to try and help, so I took these photos of her and posted it on my website (www.facebook.com/thewomenofstrength). We have since become friends and she truly is a beautiful and kind person.
Despite the attention and reaction from various local city resources, it has been a year and a half and still no new home has been found for Melissa and her children. I am starting this gofundme entirely for Melissa, in hopes that maybe enough money will be raised to enable her to get a place that is wheelchair accessible. Any extra funds would go towards making life a little easier for Melissa and her two youngest children as they continue to figure out how to combat the challenges they face on a daily basis.
Organizer and beneficiary
Jodi Swanson
Organizer
Chicago, IL
Melissa Pacheco
Beneficiary