When our mother died, my sister and I ended up losing our house, too. We managed to get half of our family's belongings into a moving truck, and we've spent the past two years fighting to keep that storage unit-- it's paid up and safe today.
The other half went into storage boxes at a facility an hour away. With multiple disabilities each and neither of us able to work, we fell behind on the rent and fees, and over two years the balance grew. We just received the call: if we can't pay, everything will be donated away. We need to pay by the end of September.
There's no one left in our immediate family who can help. This isn't just "stuff." These boxes hold:
*Quilts and afghans made by our great grandmothers;
*The childhood storybooks that helped shape who we are;
*Family photos from every generation;
*Souvenirs from the most important moments of our lives;
*The furniture of our youth, like the family dining table-- the one my father rigged with hooks on the leaves so I wouldn't send them crashing down while I ran and played underneath it as a child.
* And there is so much more, our lives and family heritage.
We are the last ones left to protect and distribute our parents' and stepfather's belongings-- five households' worth of memories, all we have left of them. We're asking for help to make sure our family's history doesn't end up in a donation bin or dumpster. Important photos, documents, and mementos of our parents, grandparents, and great grandparents will be passed to children, cousins, their children, and their grandchildren. The family legacies will actually go to our extended family.
We will be able to filter out the few things that are vital to the nurture of our own souls. And as firm believers in paying it forward, we will donate to charitable thrift any belongings that are still good but no longer needed.
Every dollar you can donate goes directly to paying off the storage balance before September ends. Thank you for reading this far, and thank you if you're able to help in any way-- even sharing this with someone else could make the difference.
Please help us bring our family legacies home.
