Meet the remarkable Leidy...
We met Leidy and her two sisters on Christmas Eve. She’s 22. She’s the parent now. Four years ago, their mother was murdered. Leidy was 18, her middle sister was 9 and her youngest sister was 2.
We haven’t tried to imagine what life has been like for these three sisters. We do know that they were thrust into a life of grief, adversity, and survival as children, threatened by prospects of homeless along with other normal adult issues. No time to even grieve.
Through a combo of grit, smarts, and some beautiful adults in the community of North Andover, MA, these guys are making their way through the most tragic of losses. Led by Leidy, these three girls have remained the tightest of family, caring for one other, finding joy together. We don’t know Leidy well and we didn’t know what she was like before her mom was taken from her. But we do know that she is a beautiful, beautiful, beautiful person. So full of love, grace, and kindness. Someone who makes you feel happy to be around her, even when she’s carrying the weight of the world on her back. She is a remarkable person.
Leidy has a full-time job, and also cooks food to sell for extra money, pays for everything, helps her sisters with homework, meets with teachers, deals with things when they break. Not what we were dealing with at 22.
The KSF met her through channels that stemmed from a gofundme page set up to raise money for Leidy to buy a car. Thanks Kathleen Pease, another person making a huge difference in the lives of others. Anyway…this gofundme raised a lot of money for a car and we added a chunk on top to make sure they had enough to get good, reliable transportation.
Last thing: Leidy has become the sister/parent to her siblings. Tremendous responsibility with no support system. And here’s the big part: through all this, she hasn’t had the space to grieve the loss of her mom. In addition to the money, we are connecting Leidy to some of the most wonderful resources in the area that help grieving families. Special shout-out to The Children's Room, which helps families who’ve lost a parent or sibling and empowerHER, which helps young girls who’ve lost their mom. Kate helped several girls connect to empowerHER over the years.
Leidy - you and your sisters are very much loved. We are all here for each other.