For most of us, the time from Thanksgiving to Christmas is truly the Most Wonderful Time of the Year!

However, for Living Grace Homes and other non-profits that provide services to those struggling to get by it is also the busiest and either the most heartbreaking or the most rewarding, depending on the day and the crisis de jour!

A call from The Shade Tree a week before Thanksgiving brought us a young mom who was due at the end of the month and had no prenatal care.  She was couch surfing and had multiple health issues. Some serious enough that had she remained in her living situation would have endangered her life and the life of her child. Ten days after arriving at Living Grace Homes she had seen the amazing Doctors at For Women OB/GYN, had her health issues assessed and had her baby safely delivered by C-section at Henderson Hospital. She is making it to her Doctor’s appointments, her son is thriving and she is preparing to look for work AND return to College. For Jay and her son, it is indeed, the Most Wonderful Time of the year!

Sunday night after Thanksgiving a message came through on the Living Grace Homes Facebook page. “I am pregnant and at a shelter with my almost one year old daughter. Do you guys have a room for me?” I responded right away and asked her to call the office the next day. She told me she was not able to as her phone was off, and she was messaging with the shelter’s Wi-Fi. I told her we would make arrangements on Monday.

Monday our Director of Programs did an intake and brought mom and daughter to Living Grace Homes parenting home. After a couple of days, she message again on FB, phone still off! So I went and spoke with her. She also had no prenatal care and is due December 28! Of course, I picked up the phone and called For Women and had an appointment scheduled for two days later.

Wonderful, right? NO! Upon review of her ER records, For Women called and told her to go straight to Henderson Hospital for observation. A potentially life-threatening condition was discovered and she needed to start medication for it immediately! She spent three days in the hospital while the amazing staff at the parenting home watched her now one year old daughter. One of the reasons she had not had appropriate care prior to coming to Living Grace Homes was because she had no one she could trust to take care of her daughter. Knowing the child was safe allowed her to get the medical care she so desperately needed. We will have another new baby girl arriving on December 27th! Truly The Most Wonderful Time of the Year!

Please consider a Christmas donation of $50, $100, $250, $500 or more if you are able to help us continue to be a safe haven that provides an opportunity to have The Most Wonderful Christmas, for many young families.

In 2022 we have served 63 families, for a total of 106 individuals.