Timothy DuWhite - "Silver & Gold"

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COMMUNITY SUPPORT PROJECT - Fundraiser by Timothy DuWhite: Help A Son Support His Mother - Please consider donating: www.gofundme.com/help-a-son-s...
FULL STORY (written by Timothy DuWhite): I struggle with where to begin this story. How do I best convey the reasons for both why my mother is in need, and why she deserves to be given the entire world? Perhaps I should mention her childhood upbringing in the Red Hook Projects of Brooklyn. Perhaps I should paint you a portrait of her alcoholic father, emotionally abusive mother, and physically abusive husband. Maybe I should disclose all the stories of vulnerability, violence and danger she has shared with me while I was growing up. Painful stories she offered as a means to keep her son aware of what this world is capable of doing--stories that were never intended for you.
But I fear that an intrinsic part of asking for help is to give out my mother’s most precious and sacred and private in hopes that you’ll deem it worthy. In hopes that her years of pain could somehow now be made lucrative. And that is truly terrifying!
As you read through the description of my mother’s circumstance, I ask that you remember what she has been through and is going through isn’t the totality of her. I’m sharing these pieces of her life (with her permission) because this world owes her care, owes her acknowledgement, owes her comfort, and this is just my small attempt towards getting her that.
I’ll try to make this as succinct as possible.
My mother is an alcoholic who has accomplished years upon years of sobriety until rather recently, when life has proven to be too much. This disease is one that she inherited from her father, and has plagued my family for generations. Because of alcoholism, my mother spent my high school experience absent, jobless, and without a secure home. She lost her car and license due to DWI’s, lost precious time with her family, and has been forced to rebuild her life seemingly from scratch.
In 2015, at the age of 51, after having graduated over 20 years prior, my mother returned to school. She enrolled to become a certified Medical Assistant and Phlebotomist. She made her return for two reasons: one, because she knew that if she were to go looking for jobs an employer would question why there is such a large gap in her work experience. She wanted her certification in hand so she would be able to walk in with some confidence. Secondly, she knew that her body could no longer withstand the strain of returning to the work she use to do as a Certified Nursing Assistant (CNA) in elderly homes.
In the midst of dealing with severe depression, bodily fatigue from having to take two buses to and from school each day, and the embarrassment of being in class with 19 and 20-year-olds, she ended her year and a half at the school at the top of her class, with a 4.0 GPA and National Certificates in both her fields of study.
My mother has been getting section 8 housing for the last 10 years...(continue reading: www.gofundme.com/help-a-son-s...)
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