Embrace A Family

We match the time and talents of volunteers with the needs 

of the single parent.

Most of what we do is to try to make life a little easier.

Easter baskets are just one added expense to a budget
stretched as tight as it can get.
But getting out and shopping without the kids in tow
can be just as challenging.
We also do Christmas stockings.
Lots of Christmas stockings.

We also provide school supplies.

Other organizations will do this but what you get is pretty generic.
Have you seen a school supply list lately?
There is nothing generic about them
ie: a purple 2 pocket folder with 3 brads.
We get each child's specific list and fill it.
With very generous help from Office Depot.

We have social time together.
Happy Hours!
Being a single parent can be very isolating.
Sometimes they just need to get together and realize
they are not alone.

Not all of our mothers have financial issues.
Lots of them do.
Some of them have family nearby to help out.
Most do not.

One thing I have come to realize is that there is
a huge crack in our social services establishment.
While some of the ladies make too much money to
qualify for services, the fact that they may
make as little as $7 a month over the limit
does not mean they can afford
to pay for the services they do not qualify for.

That's what separates one of our moms from
the subsidized school lunch program.

Some of the aid is only available if you
are in arrears. These moms credit scores
are dicey at best, they can't afford to be in arrears.

My newest soapbox is utility assistance.
There are programs in place for
assistance with heating bills.
It's a little more challenging to find help
with cooling costs.

I had a mother call me during our 100 degree plus
heatwave. She and her son had been
taking turns soaking in a cold bathtub.
She lives in a rural area.
Cooling centers aren't heard of.
She had access to an air conditioning
unit but was afraid to use it for fear of what
it would do to her electric bill.
I told her to get.
Plug it in.
We'll figure it out.

Well, here's me figuring it out.
Embrace A family is a 501 (c)(3)
charitable organization.
And while we match time and talents of
volunteers the money has to come
from the generosity of strangers.
We get some from service organizations
in the area but our school supply
costs reach about $4,000 alone.

We really don't have the funds to assist with
utility assistance.
I want to fix that.

Any contributions can be sen to:
Embrace A Family
1005 Prairie Street
St. Charles, IL 60174

It's hard enough to be a single parent,
but a hot single parent?
Come on!

Well, depends on you definition of *hot*.