Bianca, single mother of three, escaped an abusive relationship and doesn’t have to sleep on a mattress on the floor anymore. Crystal, single mother of five, is now three years clean from a drug addiction and the family has new furniture for the first time.
They are just two of the families to receive donations Friday through the Alma Randolph Charitable Foundation as well as other local organizations and individuals.
Each year through donations and partnerships, the Foundation helps bless disadvantaged families that are working toward a better life. After blessing four families on Friday, the Foundation has now helped 40 families since 2016.
Frey family
Bianca felt like only bad things came her way. This year, through her perseverance and desire to create a better life for her children, Bianca’s fortune changed.
For the last year or so, Bianca was in an abusive relationship with her soon-to-be ex-husband, but they finally separated.
Bianca and her three children — ages 9, 5, and 4 — went from hotel to hotel, and back and forth to live with her mom or other family members. They eventually ended up at the Oasis Women’s Shelter for a little more than two months.
After trying for a year, she was finally able to get her own apartment about a month ago.
“Now I’m a single mom,” she said. “Once I got here I did whatever I could to get them beds.”
Local nonprofit Sleep in Heavenly Peace came in and built beds for the children, but Bianca was still sleeping on a mattress on the floor.
She outfitted the rest of her new home with various items she was able to find, but most of her income went toward her living expenses.
“I was having to go to Goodwill and Salvation Army — anywhere I could get anything,” she said. “I only work at McDonald’s so I don’t really make that much — just enough to pay my bills.”
Bianca’s son goes to the H.L. Neblett Community Center, and one of his teachers — Monique Robinette — nominated the family to receive the blessings from the Foundation.
The family received furniture for the living room, a bedroom suite and bedding for Bianca, a washer/dryer, a dinette, and a chest and nightstands for children’s bedrooms.
Bianca is grateful for everything the Foundation provided.
“This is a huge, huge help,” she said. “With it being Christmas next week, this is like the best Christmas I’ve ever had — even as a child. Everyone in my family kept telling me if I stay on the right track and did everything I was supposed to that God would bless me with things. For the past two years nothing but bad luck has happened to me. This year has been really good to me. My kids are super excited. They are in school, I have a good job, I have a car that’s mine that I’m working on paying for. This is just icing on the cake. I couldn’t be happier or more thankful. I’m happy.”
Noffsinger family
Crystal struggled for years with addiction to meth and marijuana but is now three years sober. With five children ranging in age from 19-2, she decided on her own to get clean, so she went to Oasis Women’s Shelter under her own will.
“No one made me go there,” she said. “I knew I could get the help I needed and my children could be with me. I did the 2.5-year program. It changed my life and my kids’ lives. I learned so much through classes, and how to love myself.”
Crystal worked hard to provide for her family. She walked back and forth to two jobs until she was able to secure her own transportation.
“Financially we’ve been in some hard situations,” she said. “I usually always worked two jobs. I had two pregnancies that were very high risk. Now we’re going into our second year in this home. It was a long struggle to get us here.”
Recently, Crystal missed time at work due to pneumonia then COVID-19 — and her 5-year-old also had coronavirus.
She’s still fighting to stay on the path forward. Crystal said she’s trying to start her own business, a cleaning service on nights and weekends.
With five children and lost time at work, Crystal still needed some help. She was referred to the foundation by Minister Will Zik with Encounter Church and Chaplain Emil Herzog with the Daviess County Detention Center.
The family of six received new furniture for the living room and kitchen, an area rug, four bedroom suites and bedding and washer/dryer. Four beds and mattresses were provided by First Baptist Church.
“It’s been one of the biggest blessings,” Crystal said. “I could not have done this for me and my kids. It’s just beautiful. Everything that me and my kids own up until now was used and or left in a place I cleaned out. God hears our prayers. He doesn’t want me to give up. He wants me to be a good mom. We’ve never had new furniture. We had one couch that took me two years to pay off. Our family really appreciates this and it is a true blessing in our life.”
McFarland family
For the last six months, Chrystal and Charles have been living with family in a garage. At their last residence, they had severe problems including black mold, a leaky roof, and outlets not working.
“So we moved in with family hoping we would get in some place quickly,” Chrystal said. “Well, we didn’t.”
After plenty of searching, they finally found a place of their own, but they had to get rid of most of their furniture due to the black mold. Both parents work full-time, but their combined income is less than $24,000.
“We basically had to start over,” Chrystal said. “My husband and I work our butts off and there was just no way we could do it on our own.”
The family was referred to the Foundation by Lighthouse Counsel. The family received two new bedroom suites, bedding and a dinette set.
The couple’s son has been sleeping on the couch for the past six months, so Chrystal said the donations mean the world to them.
“He actually has a place to lay his head and be comfortable,” she said. “Being able to have an actual bedroom set — I’ve never had that, just mismatched pieces here and there. It’s something I’ve never had before, I’m going to treasure it. My husband and I have never asked for things like this before. We’re go-getters and we’ve been doing this ourselves.”
Miss Alma and the things she does for people is such a blessing. If it wasn’t for her I would still have a lot of weight on my shoulders.
Kirk family
Brooke, Aaron and their son moved out of a tiny apartment two years ago, knowing their new home was going to need a lot of work. But it was worth the move, and they’re looking forward to paying their house off this February.
“We found this house for $14,500 but weren’t able to get a house loan because they don’t do those for that low,” Brooke said. “It was kind of odd for us and we were young. It was kind of a diamond in the rough. We got two personal loans and we were able to get it.”
All of their efforts have gone toward paying off the house and staying on top of bills, but they suffered a bit of a setback this year.
“There was a little while during the coronavirus where my husband was not able to work because he wasn’t able to find a job,” Brooke said. “But my step-dad was able to help him and he is now working at a plumbing company. So we were just starting to get my back on our feet.”
Noticing they could use some extra help, Rev. John Fowler at Southside Fellowship Church referred the family to the Foundation. This family received a new bedroom suite for child, bedding, a dinette and an area rug.
“We were blessed enough to be chosen,” Brooke said. “It was amazing. I can’t praise Alma enough for what she does. They are helping my son get Christmas this year. I’m very thankful, I’m very blessed. I was very surprised. I can’t thank everyone enough for it.”
The Foundation and local partners
Founder Alma Randolph wasn’t sure they’d be able to help even one family this year because of the pandemic, but various organizations and individuals stepped up in big ways.
FFO Home, a fairly new store in Owensboro, partnered with the Foundation to make furniture affordable and help stretch the funds to cover the needs of each family. Chandler Park Apartments held a toy drive to provide Christmas for children.
In addition to the furniture and toys, the Foundation provided pots and pans for all four families. They are also providing Christmas dinners for those four plus two more families next week.
“I’m very grateful for the generosity we have received,” Randolph said. “They would not have had Christmas without outside assistance. I’m just so thankful that we were able to give them a hand up. It’s a hand up, but not a handout. There is a difference.”
