Health woes dampen Christmas for family

It has been a rough year for Lorraine and her family.

In August, Lorraine gave birth to her fifth child. Although the baby boy was fine, Lorraine was not.

“Everything you could have, I had it. I had gestational diabetes and a whole bunch of other stuff, I had it all,” she said with a laugh.

It meant several trips to the hospital, blood transfusions and lots and lots of bed rest.

A cleaner by trade, Lorraine’s inability to work cut the weekly household income of $700 down to about $350.

The father of her children has a job at a warehouse, but a mix-up at the motor vehicle bureau meant a driver’s license suspension from a 2010 DUI arrest had stayed on his record.

On his way to work early one morning, he was pulled over and ultimately put on house arrest for driving with a suspended license.

“I was on bed rest and he was on house arrest,” Lorraine said with a laugh. “I know I’ve got it bad and its been a rough year,” said Lorraine, who has been out of the Salvation Army homeless shelter for three years now.

“But I look at other people who have it a lot worse, and I figure if they can get through it, so can I,” she said.

Nevertheless, getting through Christmas and presents for five kids — ages 12, 10, 8, 2 and four months — was not something Lorraine, whose name has been

changed to protect her family’s privacy, was looking forward to.

“I just haven’t been dealing with it. I already told the older ones they might not get much this year, that we would have to wait until January when the sales are held,” she said.

But thanks to the generosity of Mercury readers, Operation Holiday is going to make Lorraine’s Christmas a little more festive.

Kicking off its 27th year, Operation Holiday has been providing meals and gifts to local families since 1991. The idea behind Operation Holiday is to offer a helping hand to those families who, during the season of giving, are unable to afford what many of us consider holiday staples such as presents and bountiful holiday meals.

Operation Holiday has provided a brighter holiday season to thousands of families with children. Last year more than $50,000 in donations allowed the program to provide food and gifts for 144 families with 447 children in need.

The program was created and exists for children. The mission of Operation Holiday is to ensure that children of the Pottstown area have food to eat and gifts to open, no matter how poor or difficult their family situation may be.

There is no overhead with Operation Holiday and all funds stay in the Pottstown area. Families are referred by more than 20 local agencies and churches.

Funds are collected and audited in a non-profit foundation account managed by staff of The Mercury.

Food, which includes the fixings for a holiday dinner as well as staples for the pantry, is ordered, bought, packed and distributed by Mercury employees and Pottstown High School student government volunteers.

Gift cards for every child in the program 16 years of age or younger are purchased through Boscov’s and distributed in partnership with the referring agencies.

Operation Holiday does not accept families who have not been referred by an agency in order to protect the integrity of the program.

Operation Holiday is funded solely by readers’ contributions. All contributions are tax deductible.

Contributions may be mailed or brought to the offices of The Mercury, Attn: Operation Holiday, 24 N. Hanover St., Pottstown, PA 19464. Make checks payable to “Operation Holiday.”