Overview

My older son Warren and I had our lives upside-down when we were thrown out of the house by my sister-in-law and lived in a shelter. When my other son Mathieu was born with multiple medical problems, we were in and out of the hospital for the first six months while living in a shelter. Now we have a place of our own, and we are trying to rebuild and take care of my son, he is more than one year old now and will always be severely handicapped. We need furniture for our empty apartment and clothing for my boys to start over and try to make a peaceful life.

I came to America from Senegal two years ago with my one son Warren and pregnant with my second son Mathieu; Mathieu was born with CHARGE syndrome so he is blind in one eye and deaf in one ear and uses a feeding tube. He is now one year old and is currently receiving all sorts of therapy. I spend most of my days caring for him and I cannot afford to work.  We have no furniture in our apartment and we need clothes for my boys to help us start to live a normal life again.

I came to America from Senegal two years ago with my son Warren who was 8, and pregnant with my second son Mathieu; my husband is still back in Africa. I lived with my brother-in-law for a short time until his wife attacked me and threw us out, and we became homeless. We were in a shelter for several months and our clothes were stolen, toys, everything I owned. My child Mathieu was born with CHARGE syndrome so he is blind in one eye and deaf in one ear and cannot eat from the mouth so he is connected from a feeding tube.  The doctors were telling me he would only live for 6 months and after his birth we were in the hospital for six months caring for him. He is now one years old and is currently receiving all sorts of therapy. I spend most of my days in and out of the hospital and cannot afford to work.  It is very difficult for me and my family, along with my son being ill. 

Validated

Validated by Kim from Infant Welfare Society of Evanston (What does this mean?)

I have known Mary and her boys for about one year. I met her at her home; she was referred to me by the hospital. I think meeting this need is important to both Mary and her boys; Mary is a great mother to her children and loves them very much; she has sacrificed greatly to care for them and the past year has been tragically hard on all of them. Meeting this need will move their lives forward by giving her and her children a greater sense of stability after their lives have been so unpredictable. Because of the medical situation with her son Mathieu, and having almost everything stolen from them, they are lacking the bare necessities they need to begin to improve their lives after these setbacks; Mary is on the path to begin to make that happen. She is an immigrant from Senegal and wants to provide for her children the best way possible; she has a wonderful outlook on life and has not allowed all the trouble in their lives to get her down.

About Kim

I am a Family Support Specialist at Infant Welfare Society of Evanston (IWSE). My work involves working with families to build the parent-child bond. I help the families to identify the necessary skills and make the changes they need in terms of advocating for themselves and their child. What I… Read more