Read this and help (if you can)

Be warned: If you are a parent – especially one with young children – you are about to spend some money.

I was alerted to this via twitter this morning. I think you should read it and (if you can) help out.

My phone rings. It’s J. She needs to talk, she says. We met on Saturday, she’d come along to the Young Moms group with her friend who’d been before. They live together in Ocean View.

I ask if she’s okay, but she’s not. She doesn’t know what to say, or how to say it. She’s embarrassed, ashamed, asking a stranger for help.

“We don’t have food, Tracy. We’ve got nothing.”

She’s waiting for her grant but it hasn’t come through yet, because she moved and had to reapply. Is it just a sob story? How can I really tell? I can’t.

Can you help us?

And there you go, that’s the question. Can I help her? I don’t have cash lying about, every cent of my salary has a home to go to, and by the 14th of the month, I’m starting to look forward to payday again.
Then I remember the chocolate I had yesterday. The fancy cheese I didn’t need. The expensive school fees and the safe roof over my children’s heads – not my very own roof, sure, but a warm home and family nevertheless . The iPad I was lusting over, even though I know I’d never afford one, it’s still on my radar.

I have everything I need, and some things I don’t. There are many things I want and don’t have. But we’re safe, well-fed and healthy.

Tracy is Tracy Engelbrecht and details of the Young Moms Support group are here.

You can argue all you like over who is responsible for a 2 year old child going to bed hungry. Is it the Government, is it the parents, is it the system or is it society?
But while you’re arguing, that 2 year old child is still going to bed hungry. And that’s not right.

People like Tracy are going out there and making a difference and for that they deserve our admiration and our support.

You can donate here (Paypal in US$ – which make an even bigger difference at the moment) or contact Tracy at tracy@tracyengelbrecht.com.

Please spread this post as far and as wide as you can: facebook, twitter, email, skinner over coffee – whatever. Even passing it on may make a difference.
The more people that can help, the more help these Moms get.

2 thoughts on “Read this and help (if you can)

    Leave a Reply