Meet Our Moms: Michael - Mama of 2
It’s no secret that women, specifically single mothers have suffered the brunt of the fall out effects of this pandemic. For single mamas, making a choice between two bad options is not unfamiliar, but this time, choosing between working or leaving your kids home unattended is really rough. And there really isn’t a choice.
Michael first heard about Tender from her sister. She was working full time even though she had a 5 year old boy and a 2 year old girl. She had been working as an early childhood educator - a job she really enjoyed, but the income wasn’t enough. Michael was struggling to pay her utility bills like gas, electric and trash on top of all of her other family expenses, “I have to pay for everything on my own,” she tells us.
When Michael’s sister told her about Tender, she thought the application might be like the others - long, drawn out, with a ton of paperwork. She was pleasantly surprised at how easy reaching out for help was, “It was really cool how Jaycina set the application up. It’s quick help for mothers. I really appreciated how fast she worked and how she listened to my needs because I was really scared.”
With her children unable to be in daycare and school - Michael, like hundreds of thousands of other mother’s had to make the tough call to leave her job so she could be home with her kiddos.
That means an already financially tight situation has been made even tighter.
That’s where Tender steps in.
Tender provides financial gap assistance - a bridge - to cover expenses to get a family out of an emergency situation and into stability. Sometimes, the assistance like our diaper bank that provides free diapers, wipes, and formula, allows families to keep the money they would have had to spend on those necessary items and use it for other things like putting gas in the car or paying a cell phone bill.
To learn more about how to get involved with Tender to be able to help more mamas like Michael, please visit: https://www.thetenderfoundation.com/