Share the Season: Gift helps single mom at end of difficult year
Share the Season is an annual campaign that offers one-time aid to people affected by unforeseen hardships. The people are not identified to protect their privacy.
For many reasons, this 37-year-old single mom is grateful for the help.
Share the Season’s assistance allowed her to catch up on utility bills, get closer to getting back on a budget and pay down some medical bills.
It means she may be able to provide at least a bare-bones Christmas for her two children.
“But I’m also closer to helping others,” she said. “I want to be able to get in a position where I can help another family.”
For now, she’s busy working through her own difficulties.
In January, she was diagnosed with lupus, a chronic autoimmune disease that caused her to be so sick she had to miss a lot of work as a nurse. After she returned to her job, she tried to catch up financially by working extra shifts.
“But that made my body hurt even more,” she said.
She also has to take off from work frequently to take care of her 5-year-old son, who has a medical problem that has already required two surgeries.
Her doctor says she must pay down her bill before he’ll see her again.
“It’s been a difficult year,” she said, “but I’m going to keep smiling.”
And now maybe having a little for Christmas will put a smile on her children’s faces.
“That’s something I haven’t seen in a while,” she said.
Share the Season is a joint project of The Eagle, the Wichita Community Foundation and the Salvation Army.
So far this season, it has raised more than $86,796.
Send contributions to Share the Season at the Wichita Community Foundation, 301 N. Main, Suite 100, Wichita, KS 67202. To donate online, go to www.sharetheseason.org. If you have questions about donating, call 316-264-4880.
Donors will be listed in The Eagle; please note if you prefer to remain anonymous.
To apply for help, fill out an application at www.sharetheseason.org or pick one up at the Salvation Army, 350 N. Market. The application deadline is Dec. 20. For more information, call 316-263-2769.
Among recent donors:
Marvin and Connie Angleton, in memory of Betty McIntyre and Stella Angleton; Roger and M.L. Ball; Joni Bradley, in memory of Ruby Eileen Zackula; Glenda Cherry; Terri Dondlinger; Kevin Doolin; Linda Gieser, in honor of Sonny Dukes and Nancy Scordia; Thomas Goranson; Mary McCool; Lawrence and Melanie Mitchell; Carl and Sandra Nickles, in memory of Walt and Dan Pfister;
Thomas Schaefer; Fred and Carol Schwarz, in memory of Milt Sills and Tom Wells; Rose Anne Sittler, in memory of Richard Kozera; Rex and Marcia Smith; C.M. and Laurel Standley, in memory of Lisa O’Neal; Jerry and Denise Tarbell, in memory of Thelma Steincamp; Douglas and Janet Ternes;
Ruth Wells, in memory of Tom Wells; Wichita A’s Model Ford Club; anonymous, in memory of Marilyn Allensworth; anonymous, in memory of Miriam Macera; anonymous, in honor of Bessie Sibley; anonymous, in honor of Ted and Marcia Ayres; anonymous gift from a fund at the Wichita Community Foundation; and nine other anonymous donors.
This story was originally published December 3, 2015 at 4:27 PM with the headline "Share the Season: Gift helps single mom at end of difficult year."