Less work for single mom means thin Christmas

The impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic have brought to life are sometimes hard to measure.

The effects closed schools with children at home can have on work life are profound.

You don’t need to tell Lucinda, whose name has been changed to protect her family’s privacy.

A single working mother, Lucinda has four mouths to feed, four children to clothe, not to mention trying to fulfill Christmas wishes.

That would be hard enough on her salary as an essential worker in an area nursing home, where she puts her health and that of her family at risk every day.

She used to work a day shift and her paycheck was enough for them to get by — barely.

But with children ages 8, 9, 11 and 14 at home, that was no longer an option when COVID-19 restrictions closed Pottstown schools, putting her children at home all day.

So in October Lucinda had no choice but to reduce her hours to watch her children.

She now just works one day a week and every other weekend, which does not put a lot of money in her wallet.

Lucinda can’t even afford a Christmas tree for her kids to decorate.

“My two little ones want iPads,” she said recently. “I’m just trying to maintain.”

She does that in a tworoom apartment with three girls and one boy. “We have bunk beds and one sleeps on the couch, or I sleep on the couch. We try to make it work,” she said.

It may work a little better with some help this newspaper’s readers who have donated to Operation Holiday.

Interviewed in mid-December, Lucinda had not yet given much thought to Christmas dinner. “I’m just trying to get to tomorrow,” she said.

But thanks to Operation Holiday, Lucinda’s family can enjoy a holiday repast, with gift cars to grocery stores covering the cost of the feast as well as gift cards to buy gifts for her four little ones.

Now in its 30th year, Operation Holiday has provided a brighter holiday season to thousands of families with children throughout the region. Donations from readers last year totaled more than $35,000 and allowed the program to provide food and gifts for 107 families with 325 children in need.

This year, 15 agencies in Montgomery and Chester counties have referred families in need, many of them affected by the devastation of the global pandemic. Stories of families interviewed by our reporters will appear in the newspaper and online between now and Dec. 24.

Also this year, due to the hardship in our communities caused by the coronavirus pandemic, Operation Holiday will make cash donations to local food pantries so that families will have access to food during the winter months.

There is no overhead with Operation Holiday and all funds stay local. Funds are collected and audited in a non-profit foundation account managed by staff of MediaNews Group. Due to COVID-19 restrictions on gatherings, the food packaging program will not take place this year. Families instead will be given gift cards for food in addition to the gift cards for gifts.

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 can be mailed to The Mercury, Attn: Operation Holiday, PO Box 1181, Pottstown, PA 19464, or The Reporter, 307 Derstine Ave., Lansdale PA 19446. Make checks payable to “Operation Holiday” Online donations are being accepted in a secure portal in partnership with TriCounty Community Network. Visit https://tcnetwork.org/ and click on the link for Operation Holiday.