Beds donated to family
Submitted by jcht2010 on
Thelma Williams is not your typical senior citizen. At 81 years old, she is raising three of her great-grandchildren. The responsibility is rewarding, and she loves them as if she gave birth to them herself, but there are challenges. Margo, Clearence, and Kaijuan, are 8, 10, and 11, respectively, and involved in activities such as football and cheerleading, something difficult for Williams to keep up with, but she feels extracurriculars are important.
The octogenarian can no longer work and is on a fixed income, which means that things are difficult financially. Month after month, she makes it work with the help of a few. Her son moved in recently to help out around the house, and on August 26, Ashley Furniture Homestore in Victoria brought relief in a form that most of us take for granted every day – beds for the three kids.
Paige Streiff, owner of Ashley Furniture Homestore in Victoria, said the program, called A Hope to Dream, is only possible because of the community.
“The community helps us when they purchase a mattress,” she said, “Every time somebody purchases a mattress, we put part of that into another account, and at the end of the quarter, or the year, whenever we have a lot, we say ‘ok, we’re going to be able to donate 35 beds this time.’ Last time it was 10. Before that, it was 11.”
Streiff said this year there were more available beds than nominations for recipients, and the store had to put out a call for more nominations.
“About a week ago, we asked the community for nominations, and now we have a bunch for 2016, too.”
She credits Vern Crockett, who heads up the program in the Crossroads region, with finding the “extras,” such as school supplies and sheets and pillowcases for the beds.
“Those are extra. Vern found those at other businesses in Victoria. Some of the other programs don’t include those,” she said.
Edna firefighters Frank Flores and Kenny Plant joined the Ashley delivery and brought brand new smoke alarms to install. Melissa Rivera from KIXS 108 radio station joined and wasn’t afraid to get sweaty, diving right in to haul bed frames, clean out the space, and help Margo go through her old clothes for donation, right alongside the Ashley delivery people and firefighters.
All the help from compassionate people was overwhelming for Williams, who couldn’t be more grateful, and the kids get to come home from football and cheerleading and sleep on a comfortable, soft, memory foam bed all their own.
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