Another Helping Hand
Donation protected
Salutations. My name is Kyndia Riley. Currently, I am a first year student at the University of Virginia studying Biology with a minor in Astronomy with a pre-health career track. I have defied a majority of odds to be where I am today, walking around the UVA campus, or "Grounds" as my fellow Hoos call it. Yet, my story is no small one. I have come upon this website to ask for help, not for any specific object but more so in the prospect of life. I've always been independent and now is my time to ask for a helping hand.
Unless I was given a multitude of days to explain this matter, no short story could entail the details my life has concealed; therefore, I can only place it within a nutshell. Ideally, it begins with my parents' incarceration. My mother and Father were both wrestled away in handcuffs when I was the tender age of three years old. They had been sentenced to life sentences in federal prison. My handica pped sister and I were then left under the care of our grandparents. As years went by, I endured school under very harsh conditions. We were on a fixed income, struggling, and it was very hard to get by. You could say we were, "Poor". Fortunately, we made ends meet and as the child of two convicted felons, I still found a way to become successful.
The actual slippage began in the year 2012 when my grandfather passed away. He had been consumed by cancer. This left my elderly grandmother, sister and I all alone in the woodlands of Virginia. As a child, it was hard enough to manage taking care of myself but I bore the responsiblility of helping take care of two others, physically and two others, mentally. I went to school, partook in two jobs while doing so, came home to a depressed house, and managed to somehow plow through it all.
Then 2015 came around, and things became brighter, as well as worse. It was my graduation year, entailing my greatest success but my worst of sorrows. Six months before graduation, my sister passed away. It was not due to her Cerebral palsy but a respiratory problem. This passing sickened my grandmother and seemlessly broke her heart. The toll of the loud silence within the house was deafening and burdening. It just left my grandmother and I, alone amongst ourselves. It caused utter pain amongst us all, until what I assume to be the worse finally happened. My grandmother was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer and I was only but 17 years old. She was weak, sickly, immobile, and hard to take care of alone. I couldn't do much in awe of her sickness but cry, and not quite understand why so much death was being embedded into my life. She asked so much of me, but the greatest of all, was to go to college regardless of finances and etc.
Two weeks before graduation, she left this world. More importantly, she left my world. I was 18 years old, without parents or parental guidance, with only my significant other to help me make ends meet. That summer, I left for UVA. My church, friends, and distant family members helped me purchase toiletries, and things I had needed, but such gifts due to condolence do not last forever. This is not to degrade who I can always turn to for help, but as time goes on, frequently asking for money and assistance from the same person/people can become overbearing and overwhelming. In addition to this, in the situation that I am in, I should be able to save myself the emotional trauma and be able to withstand from feelings that I am continuously burdening others. By now, my second semester, I am scrambling to find things such as health insurance, ways to purchase foods continuously and goods for myself, ways to pay for my image to be upkept, ways to help send my mother money so that she is able to make contact out of the prison, and so forth. Basically, just like every other college student, I am struggling to survive in college; the only difference is, I have no one to call home to and ALOT of responsibilities.
Attending the University of Virginia means the world to me, because it shows that I have substance regardless of my circumstances. It shows the character that I have, and the type of person I have chosen to be. Also, it allows me to keep a promise to my grandmother.
Whatever money is given to help me will be greatly appreciated simply because it helps me. It doesn't just go to something specific, but it contributes to something that is an entire. Recently, I've been trying to fit working while at school into my schedule, and it is nearly impossible. I'm fatigued, sleep depriven, emotionally tired, and consumed by the world around me. I am struggling to buy certain things, paying bills, help partake in care of my mother while she is away, trying to find transportation to and fro from school as I have no vehicle, and just trying to buy the average things that I would typically desire at my age, and it is surely taking a toll on me. I am going back to a completely desolate, empty house during winter breaks, and basically struggling because I can't purchase certain necessities for myself and I don't have any sort of parent there to ask me what I need or want from the store. I am 18, living as if I am completely grown. I am assuming the responsibilities of an adult, and reality is beginning to settle but I feel as though I am far too young, and only just breaking out of my shell. I am now asking for a helpinghand in life, to be able to purchase the things necessary to live without fear of being alone and without, forever. There are multiple methods of giving, with sentiment over riches, please say a prayer for me or speak some sort of hope in regards to me. I am here, genuinely asking for a little help.
Unless I was given a multitude of days to explain this matter, no short story could entail the details my life has concealed; therefore, I can only place it within a nutshell. Ideally, it begins with my parents' incarceration. My mother and Father were both wrestled away in handcuffs when I was the tender age of three years old. They had been sentenced to life sentences in federal prison. My handica pped sister and I were then left under the care of our grandparents. As years went by, I endured school under very harsh conditions. We were on a fixed income, struggling, and it was very hard to get by. You could say we were, "Poor". Fortunately, we made ends meet and as the child of two convicted felons, I still found a way to become successful.
The actual slippage began in the year 2012 when my grandfather passed away. He had been consumed by cancer. This left my elderly grandmother, sister and I all alone in the woodlands of Virginia. As a child, it was hard enough to manage taking care of myself but I bore the responsiblility of helping take care of two others, physically and two others, mentally. I went to school, partook in two jobs while doing so, came home to a depressed house, and managed to somehow plow through it all.
Then 2015 came around, and things became brighter, as well as worse. It was my graduation year, entailing my greatest success but my worst of sorrows. Six months before graduation, my sister passed away. It was not due to her Cerebral palsy but a respiratory problem. This passing sickened my grandmother and seemlessly broke her heart. The toll of the loud silence within the house was deafening and burdening. It just left my grandmother and I, alone amongst ourselves. It caused utter pain amongst us all, until what I assume to be the worse finally happened. My grandmother was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer and I was only but 17 years old. She was weak, sickly, immobile, and hard to take care of alone. I couldn't do much in awe of her sickness but cry, and not quite understand why so much death was being embedded into my life. She asked so much of me, but the greatest of all, was to go to college regardless of finances and etc.
Two weeks before graduation, she left this world. More importantly, she left my world. I was 18 years old, without parents or parental guidance, with only my significant other to help me make ends meet. That summer, I left for UVA. My church, friends, and distant family members helped me purchase toiletries, and things I had needed, but such gifts due to condolence do not last forever. This is not to degrade who I can always turn to for help, but as time goes on, frequently asking for money and assistance from the same person/people can become overbearing and overwhelming. In addition to this, in the situation that I am in, I should be able to save myself the emotional trauma and be able to withstand from feelings that I am continuously burdening others. By now, my second semester, I am scrambling to find things such as health insurance, ways to purchase foods continuously and goods for myself, ways to pay for my image to be upkept, ways to help send my mother money so that she is able to make contact out of the prison, and so forth. Basically, just like every other college student, I am struggling to survive in college; the only difference is, I have no one to call home to and ALOT of responsibilities.
Attending the University of Virginia means the world to me, because it shows that I have substance regardless of my circumstances. It shows the character that I have, and the type of person I have chosen to be. Also, it allows me to keep a promise to my grandmother.
Whatever money is given to help me will be greatly appreciated simply because it helps me. It doesn't just go to something specific, but it contributes to something that is an entire. Recently, I've been trying to fit working while at school into my schedule, and it is nearly impossible. I'm fatigued, sleep depriven, emotionally tired, and consumed by the world around me. I am struggling to buy certain things, paying bills, help partake in care of my mother while she is away, trying to find transportation to and fro from school as I have no vehicle, and just trying to buy the average things that I would typically desire at my age, and it is surely taking a toll on me. I am going back to a completely desolate, empty house during winter breaks, and basically struggling because I can't purchase certain necessities for myself and I don't have any sort of parent there to ask me what I need or want from the store. I am 18, living as if I am completely grown. I am assuming the responsibilities of an adult, and reality is beginning to settle but I feel as though I am far too young, and only just breaking out of my shell. I am now asking for a helpinghand in life, to be able to purchase the things necessary to live without fear of being alone and without, forever. There are multiple methods of giving, with sentiment over riches, please say a prayer for me or speak some sort of hope in regards to me. I am here, genuinely asking for a little help.
Organizer
Kyndia Riley
Organizer
Heathsville, VA
