"What's Important" - as told by Family Help Coordinator Patricia Simpson

I feel that often we take for granted even the most simple things in life.  The following occurrences will probably remain in my mind and heart forever and bring tears to my eyes each time I think about the people involved.

A mother was asking for help to get her electricity turned back on.  She also needed food.  While being told where to go to receive the food, her young daughter spoke up and said, "Oh, Mommy, PLEASE don't forget water; PLEASE ask for water, too!"

One Christmas season, a mother applied for a rent deposit to get a place through public housing.  After getting the proper verifications, the mother returned to the Mission office to pick up her check for the deposit.  Her teenage daughter by her side, the greatly appreciative mother (with tears in her eyes) said, "You will never know what this means to me, to US.  All my daughter wanted for Christmas was to have a roof over our heads, to have our own place."