Rebuilding After Everything

I'm a mother of three. Only two of my children get to grow up — my son will always be 11; I lost him to suicide in 2022. That loss changed everything, but it didn't take away my job as a mom to the daughters I have left, and it hasn't stopped them from becoming extraordinary young women.

While I was in prison, my daughters' father left them to fend for themselves after taking the money that had been saved for their college education. Then my own mother put them out on the street with nothing but the clothes they were wearing — because they refused to stay silent about what was happening to them. She also kept the personal documents they need to move forward: birth certificates, records, the paperwork that proves who they are.

They had every reason to fall apart. They didn't. No drugs, no giving up, no excuses — they stayed in school, stayed together, and stayed good. This year, they're graduating.

Now I'm asking for help giving them what they've earned: the chance to actually get to college and make it once they're there. I want to replace the documents that were taken from them, help cover what they need to start this next chapter, and — if I can raise enough — give them a graduation celebration where the gifts are simply their own paperwork, finally back in their hands, along with whatever else I can manage to give them.

They built themselves back up with nothing. I'm asking for help making sure "nothing" isn't where they have to start college from too.

Every dollar helps get my girls their documents, their tuition, and the fresh start they've already proven they deserve.