Being a single mom is not a walk in the park and, definitely, it’s not something you choose to do. In most cases, it is life that brings you to this situation, which comes with several challenges- practical and emotional.
To begin with, single moms have no one to turn to. They have to be both moms and dads for their children, while working at the same time to make ends meet. There’s no “put the kid to bed tonight so I can get some extra sleep”. No, single moms have to be present 24/7 for their children.
Also, self-doubt is a very common feeling for them. Having to make all the family decisions alone, puts a certain burden of responsibility on them that they wouldn’t have to bear otherwise. And, of course, they often end up blaming themselves for wrong decisions, and feeling insufficient.
While we could go on with the list of challenges forever, it is pretty clear already how demanding it is to raise children alone.
And, when on top of everything, you have a house that is falling apart, it is very difficult not to crumble under the pressure.
That’s how single-mom-of-three Jane Cunningham felt until a few months ago. She had been raising her three children alone in a home that was far from livable.
“The entire roof was shot,” Cunningham told WBZ-TV. “We basically had to board that off and couldn’t use it because a piece of the ceiling had fallen down and in with that came a giant squirrels’ nest, nuts and all.”
The woman knew the house had to be fixed, but she couldn’t afford any renovation work. That’s when a friend of hers, Melinda Johnson, started a GoFundMe to raise money for this cause.
The whole thing caught the attention of neighbor Dave Fenton, a Sudbury resident himself, who is the Chief Operating Officer of Suffolk Construction Boston.
Fenton, along with his co-workers soon took up the job of fixing the fallen roof and practically everything that made Cunningham’s house unsafe to live in.
“It kind of just moved me. So I dug into it a little more and figured out that we should be helping,” he told WBZ. “I knew we had to jump in and help right away.”
His team of roofers and demolition workers soon fixed the major issues of the house.
“I knew there was more to do so I reached out to some other folks and some interior people, some demolition folks that we work with so we got inside and took care of the mold issue, took care of the drywall, a little bit of the electrical work and kind of got the place secured up for the winter time,” Fenton said.
Now the family house is safe to live in, and Cunningham and her children couldn’t be more grateful.
“I’m just blown away by the kindness and it really just changes our whole outlook on life and it changes the trajectory of our life as well,” she said.
It seems that the Good Samaritans will continue working on the house in spring, fixing the landscaping and painting the exterior.
Watch the video below to see for yourself what a difference the fixes made to the house.
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