Written By: Carol Klocek -
Dear friends,
Do you stop and stare every time you see a newborn or is it just me? Recently, a young mother was standing at the front desk and had her three-month-old little boy with her. He was so sleepy but you could tell he really wanted to look around him, but he just couldn’t keep his eyes open. His eyes would close, he’d smile this sweet little smile in his sleep and then open his eyes just a bit again. I was charmed!
Of course I had to tell the mother that I thought her little boy was the cutest, sweetest thing I’d ever seen, and then she had to tell me all about him. As we chatted about both her children, I asked her lots of questions about her experience. Finally she said “Oh – I can tell you that this place is amazing. I don’t know what I would have done without you this year. My little girl – she has autism – we would have never known or known what to do. Now we caught it early so she’ll get the help she needs. And they helped me get her tested, and figure everything out. I mean, trying to be homeless with a new baby and another one with autism? We are so lucky we found you. Where would we be? Can you imagine?”
No – I can’t imagine.
If she was in a shelter, what would her life be like living in crowded conditions with other families, with a newborn and a young child with significant delays? Frequent loud noises would scare her little girl and disrupt sleep for everyone. Trying to look for employment is out of the question because she could not bring those children on a job interview.
If they were sleeping in a car, conditions could be even worse. How would they find, much less afford meals? Trying to keep a child with autism safe, contained, in a car all day? Words cannot express the emotional and physical difficulties they’d experience.
Thank you so much all you done for this family.
Categories: Blog
