$150 for a family with a baby fighting leukemia and for a selfless nursing assistant
Today's recipients of $150 through the Believe Project want to help new parents whose son is fighting leukemia and raise the spirits of a selfless nursing assistant. Through the contribution of an additional donor, the Believe Project award has been increased to $150 since the recipients shared their stories.
• Patricia Erickson of Bartlett:
"If I had the $100 to give to someone, I would give it to my son and daughter-in-law. On Oct. 28, their 9-month-old son, Declan, was diagnosed with ALL - acute lymphoblastic leukemia - and has been in the hospital ever since receiving treatments and daily chemotherapy. He is expected to be in the hospital a few more weeks and then monthly after that.
"I would give my daughter-in-law the money to use for meals while staying with their son in the hospital as the hospital does not provide meals for the parent. It gets very costly eating from the cafeteria. They have a long, hard road ahead of them and everything helps."
• Stephen Strong of Carol Stream:
"My co-worker at the assisted living community I work at is a certified nursing assistant … in her late 50s. She is an immigrant from the Philippines and works two jobs and long hours to make ends meet and to be generous with her extended family who have special needs. She unselfishly and cheerfully assists her residents with their activities of daily living like dressing, feeding and toileting them. She is gentle, kind and compassionate with the older folks she cares for.
"She has been very tired lately. She is too young to retire but also cannot find a job in accounting, her area of professional expertise, whereby she could have a normal full-time work schedule. I would like to lift her spirits and bless her - as she so often does for me and others - with the $100 gift."
• The Believe Project is awarding $150 daily in December to a total of 48 people with good ideas for how to use the money to do a good deed for someone else. If you'd like the chance to help someone, submit your idea at events.dailyherald.com/believe-project by Monday, Dec. 11.