Taking It All In

There are no words to express our sincere appreciation for your donations and manpower for this gathering! It was truly amazing and heartwarming. Please see how your support made a big impact for this family.

Laura* is a 26-year-old, deaf single mother. Laura and her 6-year-old son Ivan were living with her abusive husband. Laura was raised in a volatile house with an abusive father.  Partially due to her disability (she has been deaf since birth) she did not understand that this wasn’t “normal”.  When she left her husband, she sought refuge at SAVE, a support service for victims of domestic violence, where she has been living for 6 months.  She now has a restraining order and is working at an agency that helps deaf and dependent adults live independently. She is going to school to become a veterinarian and in her spare time she collects recycling to save money to take Ivan to Disneyland.

* Names changed for confidentiality.

Our troop of young helpers worked hard to make their house into a home.

When Laura and her son Ivan arrived at the apartment ,  they were met by her interpreter and our large group of volunteers.  Although Laura is unable to speak, her emotions and gratitude were clear.  She took her time, taking everything in, and noticing all of the little details.

After Ivan realized he finally had a tv to watch, he didn’t want to waste anymore time on the downstairs portion of the apartment when he “needed” to see what we did with his room.  He bounded up the stairs to see his new room.  He saw a beautiful new bed, toys, games, balls, a desk and tons of clothes.

After Laura took everything in, she sat down on her new couch and signed “I can finally sit down”.  She pointed to the corner, and signed, “We’ve been eating all of our meals sitting on the floor over there.  It’s so nice to have something to sit on!”.

Thank you to everyone who made this gathering possible. It was an honor to help this woman as she is truly an inspiration to us all.

And as always, thank you to our moving sponsors, CHIPMAN RELOCATION AND LOGISTICS, we couldn’t help as many people as we do without you!

With gratitude,