A heartfelt call!!

As most of you know (or maybe not) I started working full time in December. This was a hard and semi-tragic (I'm a bit dramatic) decision for me and the only comfort I took was knowing that my children would be attending the home & childcare of an old family friend, Luisa. As the months have passed I have seen my children grow in so many amazing ways. They have made new friends, new social skills, new pre-school skills, new eating skills (Luisa is an amazing cook, she made Olivia crave lentils... LENTILS people) and so much more. The main thing I have seen is the bond & relationship forged with Luisa and my children. What a comfort and an amazing blessing to go to work to help out our financial situation and know that my kids are in such loving care. It has been priceless to me and I know to Kit as well.

Luisa has never had anything easy in her life. My Dad first met her on his LDS mission and has kept in contact with her ever since. She was born in Peru and moved to the U.S. 25(ish) years ago. She has raised three amazing children, all on her own. She has had this daycare in the bottom half of her home for twenty plus years. All of the kids she currently watches (except my own) have gone to her since they were 6 weeks old. She knows each child, loves each child and helps each child to grow, every day. She has struggled financially all of her life. Raising three children on your own, while working is no easy task but she did it and she did it well and she did it all on her own.

About ten years ago Luisa was in a horrible car accident that almost took her life. She has since recovered and moved on with a positive spirit. When she was in her car accident she lost a lot of her teeth and ever since has had very severe teeth problems. Since she has had a daycare she does not have insurance. She has been steadily losing weight the past year because she cannot eat because her teeth are so cracked & the bone where her upper teeth are, is gone. She needs to have surgery to re construct a bone and fix all of her teeth which will leave her in six month recovery period. The total cost for this is over 21 thousand dollars, all for which she will have to pay out of pocket. She runs her daycare 7 days a week, 24 hours a day and now thinks she will probably need to get a second job to try and earn extra money.

Here is where you come in and where I come in with my heartfelt call. Does anyone have any ideas at all of how I/we/us could raise money for Luisa's teeth to be fixed. If you knew this woman, her lifestory, her heart, you would want to help too. If we all work together, somehow, maybe we can help her pay for this. Please, no matter if you know me or not, leave a comment with your idea's or thoughts or suggestions on what I can pull together to help Luisa.


***Update***I am currently in the process of opening a bank account in which people can donate via paypal or to the actual bank. This way you can be anywhere and still help. I'm in the process of organizing my thoughts but a big huge hug to everyone who has commented so far. XOXOXO