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With financial burden lifted, mom begins to work through grief

Editor's note: The Time is Now to Help was founded by a local businessman who knew extreme poverty as a child. With the help of donations from the community, The Time is Now is able to help local residents in need.

Dear W.C.,

My heart is broken as I turn to you for help. I recently lost my only child to cancer. My daughter battled this horrible disease for five years. We did everything possible to beat the cancer and keep my daughter comfortable.

The only help I have is my own mother. She held my hand and comforted my daughter as she bravely went through each treatment. We have been through a lot together.

The reason I am asking for help is my mother and I are about to become homeless. We have shared an apartment together for the last few years to care for my daughter. I have tried to keep my job throughout all this, but the last year of my daughter’s life was very trying both physically and psychologically. I had to leave my job in order to care for my daughter. I could see it was becoming too hard on my mom as well.

The health insurance I had would not cover many of the costs of my daughter’s illness. This left me debt that consumed everything. I have already lost my car. My mother and I go to the food pantry in order to eat. Our electricity has been off for several months. It has been very hard on my mother to live without a refrigerator or even a microwave.

Our apartment is unnaturally silent without my daughter’s voice and the hum of appliances. It is often too much for us to bear, so we walk everywhere just to get away from the empty silence.

I cry every day for my little girl until I collapse at the end of the day. I know I have a long way to go until I feel life in my heart. It may never happen.

I do know I need to get back to work. I need to take care of my mom. I am in need of a car to get to job interviews. We also need help with our delinquent rent.

Thank you for your time in reading my letter. I know you must be very busy now with so many people out of work. God bless The Time Is Now charity for the many people all of you have helped.

A heartbroken mom

Dear readers,

I can think of nothing more painful than the loss of a child. When I first began The Time Is Now to Help, one of my first encounters with this tragedy was attending a funeral for a child of a homeless woman. The pain and agony of that woman’s life was written all over her face. The only comfort I could offer her was a hug, prayers, assistance in finding suitable shelter, and a network of people who understood the same pain.

This mother’s pain, and every other parent I have spoken to who has lost a child, was evident in her eyes and spirit. She seemed defeated by life.

I arrived at the apartment and knocked on the door. It was answered by a woman who appeared to be in her late 70s. After we spoke for a few minutes, she invited me in. She said she had been waiting for me to come. When I asked her how she knew this, she answered, “I have been praying for you to come.”

The woman who wrote the letter came to see who was being invited in; she looked very weary and older than her years.

Her mother said, “Look who has come to see us!” The daughter could not even muster a smile. She softly said, “Thank you for coming.”

Her heart was clearly broken and I could tell she was a long way from any semblance of healing.

After a few hours of talking and looking through their bills, I could not see how they had survived as long as they had. The mother explained she had been working and other than what her daughter needed medically, they lived extremely frugally.

She had no friends. Any friends she had were lost over the long years of caring for her sick child. They could not take the heartbreaking reality of her daily life as a caregiver. She did not have time for phone calls or a cup of coffee with friends. Her mother was her only constant companion and source of strength. I could see the strain of this had been hard on the grandmother of the little girl as well. When she told me her age, I was shocked how hard this had been on her physically.

I talked to their landlord who lived in Chicago and explained their situation. He was more than willing to step up and help.

The landlord said, “I understand God has given me the opportunity to help. I will not ignore this opportunity from God.”

The landlord forgave the past rent and going forward reduced their rent in half until the mother could get a full-time job. I thanked him profusely. The mother and grandmother cried in relief.

I connected the mother and grandmother to a support group for families who have lost children to illness. Together, they help each other to go through the many stages of healing. Through the network of The Time Is Now people, she was able to find a job. We also found a reliable car to get her to her new job. We also provided them with food and gas vouchers.

It has been several months now. The mother and grandmother will always carry with them the pain of the loss of their little girl. Together, we have removed the pains of poverty and at least given them financial relief.

All of you who care and share have made it possible to give them shelter, food, support and assistance. The mother wrote a letter thanking all of us for helping them cope and survive. She said, “God bless all of you at The Time Is Now for making us feel alive again.”

Health and happiness, God bless everyone, W.C.

Please help: Make checks payable to: The Time Is Now to Help, P.O. Box 70, Pell Lake, WI 53157. The Time Is Now to Help is a federally recognized 501(c)3 charitable organization licensed in Wisconsin and Illinois. You will receive a tax-deductible, itemized thank-you receipt showing exactly what every penny of your donation provided for the poverty stricken.

A very special thank you to: Drew Linendoll, Richard H. Driehaus Charitable Lead Trust, Leather Lips Watersports, Clarence and Marilyn Schawk, Katie Alder, A B & T Sales, Martin O’Brien, Sidney Johnson, Ken and Mary Willms, Bonita Ringblom, Nancy Geidel, Cathie Hoerler and Damian Slaske, Pam Maynard, James and Marilynn Dyer, Duane and Frances Eddy, Jack and Mary Lou McKinney, Herman and Elizabeth Gudeman, Louise Habrel, Jacqueline Haeger, John and Mary Smarslik, W.C. Family Resource Center/Food Pantry volunteers, all of you who support The Time Is Now to Help donation boxes, and the businesses that allow our donation boxes.

Anyone who would like a Time Is Now donation box in your business, please call (262) 249-7000.

The Time is Now appears regularly in the e-edition of Walworth County Sunday, HERE.