Danielle wants to buy food, help her children

Mother of 5 upbeat amid challenges

This winter, Danielle will be pulling out the same Christmas decorations she’s used for the past 16 years to bring Christmas spirit to her family’s home in Ville-Émard–Côte-StPaul.

“They’re old,” she admitted, but they still do the trick in the family’s home, where Danielle lives with her five children, who range in age from 2 to 16.

This year, however, Danielle and her family are facing new challenges.

Lately, she’s been spending most of her days going back and forth between appointments and doctors. Some of her children have behavioural and health issues; recently, her own health has become an issue, too.

Her two-year-old son is being evaluated for autism and Danielle was waiting for test results this fall to determine if she has a meningioma (a benign tumour), a cyst, or another kind of tumour.

“It’s hard to manage it all,” she said, especially as a single parent.

“Their father isn’t involved.”

These issues forced her to stop working in September; since then, she’s been receiving employment insurance payments.

Thanks to the Montreal Gazette Christmas Fund, Danielle can ensure that her children will have a few more memories like those to look back on from this year, despite the challenges her family faces.

Danielle is one of thousands of people who benefit from the Fund, which gives $125 to help families in need during the holiday season.

For Danielle, it will help her buy some perishable food she can’t usually get at the Welcome Hall Mission’s food bank — maybe some milk.

“It’s certain that (the Christmas Fund) will help enormously,” she said, and it’s coming at the best time.

After she’s bought the food she needs, any extra money will go toward doing something special for the children — not new decorations, though. Although Danielle isn’t planning to have a tree in the house or welcome any other family during the holidays, there should still be plenty of good cheer.

After all, she said brightly, “I have my children.”