How Your Help Restores Hope

Even as a little girl, Rose knew she wanted to be a mother. She dreamed of the life she’d make for her children: measurements marked on the doorframe, inching taller each year. Homecooked feasts for holidays; rooms ready and waiting for visits home from college. Even before she had any children – and she once wanted seven – she loved them.

That love remains, effortless and abundant.

The rest of the dream had to change.

After the birth of their son Rhett, Rose’s partner changed. He began using hard drugs, and the use quickly escalated. He wasn’t working, but he would pick fights with her over money. Things finally came to a head when he lashed out at Rose as she held their five-week-old son in her arms. Fearing for her baby’s safety, she called the police. They were less than helpful. Although Rose’s name was on the lease of the apartment and she paid all the bills, the responding officer gave her an ultimatum: she could take her baby and come with him, or he would take the baby.

Rose took her son and never looked back.

“We stayed with family, stayed in shelters, stayed in my car,” Rose told us.

Rose was – and remains – an incredibly industrious worker. As a young woman, she liked to work multiple jobs, not out of necessity, but because “it was all fun for me.” With a child, work became a balancing act. She needed more money, but couldn’t work more than a certain amount in order to qualify for childcare support.

Meanwhile, the cost of living in Rose’s home state was rising, even outpacing the national average. When Rhett was around five years old, Rose made the difficult choice to move across the country, to a new state where she had a better chance of making her childhood dreams come true for herself and her son.

There were many benefits, including distance from her ex-partner. However, it wasn’t a perfect solution. The move cost Rose all of what little she’d been able to save. And while her grit and work ethic quickly landed her a new job in the finance department of a private college, money remained tight.

“I remember last year, I got a shut-off notice for my lights,” Rose says. “The same day, I tried dropping my son off at daycare, and they were like, ‘Oh, you have to pay $180 or he won’t be able to come.’ I think I had $200 to my name. I remember just sitting there, having this meltdown. I needed to pay his childcare so I could go to work. I needed to pay the lights so we didn’t have any fees.”

In the end, Rose paid for childcare. The remaining money went towards a little food, and a little gas for their car. They lived in the dark for five days.

Situations like this one are not uncommon. More and more parents are working hard, making the best choices for their children, and still find themselves falling behind.

But thankfully, Rose isn’t alone. She’s made friends in her new home state, and she has support from kind strangers like you: donors to Feed the Children.

At a recent Feed the Children event, Rose was able to restock her pantry with the food and essentials she needs for her son and herself:

“One box I opened up had things like pasta, and tomato sauce, and canned vegetables,” Rose shares. “My son loves spaghetti and marinara. And I also received a box of personal care items. Toothpaste, toothbrushes that was very, very helpful.“

Knowing that the essentials are taken care of is a weight off Rose’s shoulders. It’s more than a simple gift of food: “It’s a blessing.”