It’s the giving season (one of my personal favorites!) and every year my family reaches out to another family in Calgary who is struggling. We connect with a family in need and send out their information to all our friends and family to see if anyone can offer support.

Last year was incredible!  We helped a single mother with three girls.  The mom was working 17 hours 7 days a week trying to make ends meet and her 3 girls were sharing a mattress on the floor.  My friends and family got together and were able to deliver them a life-changing holiday season. Now that’s what it’s all about (for me anyway)!

I’d like to tell you a little bit about the family we’re helping this year.  If you’d like to contribute something to them (donations, hand-me-downs, food, baby supplies) leave me a comment or send me an email and I’ll make arrangements to connect with you.

The family we’re helping this year is an adorable young family of three.  Their little one is only five and a half months old. A week before mom was due to give birth they were evicted, and as she was moving out she went into labor.  After baby was born they were able to move from place to place until they were able to get into Calgary Housing, sadly they lost most of their belongings in the process.

Things pretty are difficult for them financially.  She wrote, “there is no extra money to buy a crib for our son because I am on income support and my partner is laid off for the winter and only works when he is needed by his boss and it isn’t very often and can not find work so I am the provider for my family and I am barely getting by”

Mom said to me “we are not concerned if we receive a gift but we want to give my son memories for a lifetime”.  She is an incredibly devoted mother who gets joy from “just being a family and watching each other grow”.

I completely relate to the way she feels about her family and her happiness, it’s exactly how I feel. I’ve struggled too and I know that a little extra help can go along way.

Mom gave me some ideas about how we might be able to help, these are her words…

• He has no crib, in my heart this would be the best gift he could receive
• I would love to decorate his room for him to enjoy and for him to have nice things
• My son is growing out of his clothes very fast and he doesn’t have shoes,
• I was taking him to visit his Great Grandma before this dreaded snow fell and as I was getting on the bus the front wheel fell rite off and broke, I put it back on with duct tape just so I can get from place to place (they need a stroller)
• We’re slowing trying to rebuild our lives and make place homey (they could use household items)
• We enjoy movies but can only watch them on T.V. because we don’t have a DVD player
• We enjoy playing dice, cards, and board games we really like scrabble

Just in case you’re able to help here are some details about each person

• Mom: pant size 36/30, shirt size extra large, shoe size 7
• Baby: clothes 9-12 month, shoe size 3,
• Dad: pant 36/32, shirt size large, shoe size 10

Mom ended her letter to me with the following sentence, “I am blessed with greatest gift that I could ever receive- motherhood.” Beautiful.

I’d be so appreciative if you could join me in supporting this deserving family in need.

Lots of love,

P.S. If you’d like to help, email me, I’d love to connect with you to make it happen.  Also, my motto with this is only give what you can and don’t give what you don’t have. I know these are tough times for many of us and I don’t want to make your life any harder. If you have something you’re not using or something you don’t need and you think it might help, I’d love to give it to this family.