I've been providing updates on my friend Mary's situation. She has been homeless for a few months after being illegally evicted. Her sons, Matthew (13) and William (10), have a rare bone disorder and have been receiving treatment at the Gillette Children's Hospital in St. Paul, MN. Her youngest son had surgery a month ago to remove bone tumors and re-position his hip and knee. Her oldest son also had to have surgery about a week later on his hand.
Mary had been transporting them back and forth between a shelter in Fargo and the hospital in St. Paul. This is a four hour drive. Things got worse when her younger son developed an infection and she was told not to return to the shelter. That is the point where her friends began to aggressively try to raise funds to help her out.
For more details, please see my diary here.
The fundraising page is here.
Mary has been able to get into a cheap motel near St. Paul. She has been there a few days. It is a single room, so she and William, the 10-year-old, sleep in the bed and Matthew, the 13-year-old who is recovering from hand surgery, sleeps on the floor on a pile of quilts. When I last talked to her she had the funds for three weeks at the hotel, but needs to be in St. Paul for six weeks, and she also needs to get the funds together to move to Oregon when treatment is complete.
We are trying to raise $2,500 to help with expenses while William completes treatment and to help with moving costs afterwards. As of right now, we have reach 30% of that goal.
Mary told me that the comments and hugs she has received through the GiveForward page are just as valuable to her as the funds. If you are reading this, I know it would mean a lot to Mary if you could sent her a "hug" through the page. Just click on the tab that says "hug" and send a brief message.
The fundraiser ends in eight days. We hope to get at least close to the goal by then.