[Nfbf-l] An appeal for help
REPCODDS at aol.com
REPCODDS at aol.com
Sat Nov 21 20:29:01 UTC 2009
In a message dated 11/21/2009 1:13:42 P.M. Eastern Standard Time,
dianne at ketts.org writes:
Dear friends,
I am writing this letter of appeal to you because our family (me, Jeff &
Ben) have been moved to "adopt" another beautiful and loving family in
desperate need of assistance. Please allow me to share some of their
story
and how we have come to be acquainted with them.
As all of you know, I am an Orientation & Mobility instructor at Lighthouse
Central Florida. Through my work I provide instruction to visually
impaired
and blind adults and children in our Central Florida community, teaching
them how to make the most use of their other senses and information from
the
environment so that they may move and travel safely and confidently within
their home and community. I met Maxeau for the first time this past
Thursday afternoon as he was referred to me for training. During my home
visit I had the pleasant opportunity to also meet his wife Feda and his son
Michael (7 yrs old.) We spoke initially of his vision loss, the challenges
to his mobility and developed a plan for assessment and instruction.
Conversation eventually evolved to reveal that their entire family consists
of five children in total: Max-lyne (25 yrs-old), Max (17 yrs-old),
Ruchama
(12 yrs-old), Kathiana (11 yrs-old) and of course, Michael. Feda
enthusiastically went to the other room to retrieve photo albums so that
she
could share her family with me.
When I first arrived they mentioned that they had just moved into their
apartment a few weeks earlier. At first, I didn't think much of the fact
that they seemed to have no furniture other than a blue plastic patio set
with 4 chairs and a television that sat on the floor. While sharing their
family through photos it was further revealed that all seven members of
their family were residing together within this 3 bedroom apartment located
off of Americana Blvd. They went on to share with me that just weeks ago
on
this past September 14th they were evicted from their home located in the
Peppermill Community on south John Young Parkway. They were told that they
had to leave immediately and they watched as strangers entered their home
and removed every last item they owned and relocated it to the front lawn.
With no place to store it and no where to go all of their belongings were
eventually taken by neighbors and strangers, some by choice and some not.
Feda walked me through their apartment to show me that they are all
sleeping
on the floor as they have no beds.
This is a story that had it's beginnings just two years ago when because of
Maxeau's vision impairment he lost his dry cleaning business and his
ability
to work as a professional driver for a local car service. As they are a
traditional family Feda's work has always been in their home raising their
five children caring for the home and family as a whole. Presently they
are
supported by their oldest daughter Max-lyne who works at Sea World while
taking classes at Valencia Community College. She aspires to a career in
nursing. Maxeau and Feda also receive a very meager income through a local
program that provides compensation for community service. Through this
program Maxeau volunteers at the Council on Aging and Feda works at
Goodwill
Industries. On a month to month basis they are and will continue to be
required to make tough decisions about which bills to pay or not and how to
feed their family.
The other part of this story, the beautiful and compelling part is that the
love and pride of this family is palpable. Their hearts are broken but
they
are not beaten. I returned to their home again on Friday afternoon and
brought Jeff and Benjamin with me. We had the pleasure of visiting with
their entire family for 2 1/2 hours. We shared about our family and the
loss of Delaney. We shared photos and stories of her and of the
unprecedented outpouring of love and support received by our family in
these
past 18 months. We shared of our desire and our promise to Delaney that we
would seek ways to honor her memory and spread love in her name where ever
we felt inspired to do so.
Dear friends, we are inspired here. And we are hoping to fuel inspiration
in all of you, our loving extended family. Please help us help this
beautiful family in their hour of greatest need. Please look deep within
your hearts (and your garages or storage units!) and let me know what you
think you might be able to do. I promise you that no gift or act will be
too small as this family has practically nothing tangible to their name.
It
is possible that this family will need some amount of long term support as
they work their way back to self sufficiency and we will do our best with
that. For now they have obvious critical needs and therefore we appeal to
you for help.
Here is a list of urgent items that this family desperately needs:
Beds (I would like to provide at least a queen size bed for Maxeau and Feda
and then twin beds and/or bunk beds for the children.)
Comforters & pillows
Microwave
Furniture (living room chairs, couch, coffee table, TV stand, dining
chairs,
dressers for clothing)
A large stock pot
Plates, glasses, cups, cooking & eating utensils
Table lamps
Donations of food or money/gift cards to purchase food
Money/gift cards for gas for their two cars (one belonging to Max-lyne)
Other needs include tennis shoes and a warm jacket that fits well for Max
(Size 12 or 12.5 shoes, 37 inch sleeves), information about access to any
community services that may be able to fill some of their needs and
possible
job opportunities for Feda, Maxeau and a "better" job opportunity for
Max-lyne.
There is so much more I would like to share about my/our experiences with
this family so far and hope to do so in the coming weeks. Additionally, I
am very willing to speak directly to anyone who wants to know more about
them and how to help them. I can assure you that they have been humble in
their requests and that it has taken a great deal of encouragement on our
part to get them to share the specifics of their needs. They are a family
unaccustomed to asking for help as they have always been the ones to reach
out to others. One moving example they shared with us was how over a
period
of 8 months they welcomed a family of 6 into their home while that family
"got back on their feet."
As we learned in the weeks and months following Delaney's death there comes
a time in most of our lives when we must be willing to receive. We have
respectfully asked for their permission at this time to allow us to give.
I
assure you that they are opening their hearts and are ready to receive.
Please contact me directly by email or by phone (preferred) to let me know
if you feel you can help.
Please feel free to forward this email on to others who may be in a
position
to frame of heart to help.
With deep gratitude and love,
Dianne, Jeff & Benjamin
407-656-6567 (Dianne's cell)
dianne at ketts.org
P.S. Just FYI so far, our family has been able to provide $100 Wal-Mart
gift certificate, money to cover their current phone bill, a small delivery
of grocery items (milk, juice, fresh fruit etc.) Benjamin brought a book
and music CD of his own to give to his new friend Michael. Additionally,
we
will be delivering a sturdy rectangular tile top table for their dining
area
that has been sitting in our garage for some time (no chairs though.)
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