thedrifter
12-23-06, 04:49 PM
Posted on Sat, Dec. 23, 2006
Community comes together to help family at Christmas
Grandmother with six kids has needs met
BY JENNIFER A. BOWEN
News-Democrat
O'FALLON - It was hard enough being a single working mom raising an 11-year-old boy with Down syndrome, but when Maxine Moss found her home filled with five additional children, all under the age of 8, she was overwhelmed.
"That first day I just stood outside and cried because there wasn't anything else to do," Moss, 48, said. "I was down to my last three Pampers and I couldn't go to the store because I couldn't leave the kids alone and I didn't have anyone I could turn to."
Moss' 26-year-old daughter, mother of the five young children, is unable to care for them, Moss said. So Moss stepped in to care for her grandchildren: 5-month old twin boys, a 2-year-old boy, 3-year-old girl, and a 7-year-old girl.
The father of the 7-, 3-, and 2-year-olds is deployed to Iraq and unable to come home to care for the children. The father of the twins in not in the picture.
Moss needed help but didn't know where to turn. Then her co-workers and the community opened their hearts. Boxes of food, packages of diapers, a Christmas tree, Christmas gifts and furniture started arriving at the door of her townhouse from Scott Air Force Base, individuals, churches, food panties and the city of O'Fallon.
The Marines showed up in a fire engine at her home Friday with a load of Christmas gifts for the children.
Moss is a civilian employee at the Tanker Airlift Control Center at Air Mobility Command headquartered at the base. She also is an Air Force individual mobility augmentee, similar to a reservist but without an actual unit to report to.
"O'Fallon found out and the Marines found out and everyone has been just amazing," Moss said. "Someone from the O'Fallon Food Pantry came by with a turkey and said, 'I think you could probably use this.' Churches gave me towels and sheets. It's been so overwhelming, and I cannot believe how wonderfully giving this community is."
Co-workers donated some of their leave time to Moss and she was advanced sick leave so she could stay home and take care of the children while waiting for her son-in-law to return home from Iraq.
"Within a couple of days after I got the kids, the state came in and inspected my townhouse and told me I needed this many beds and I needed to get this and get that if I wanted to keep my grandkids," Moss said. "I don't know what my first sergeant (Air Force Sgt. Quinten Otto) did, but help started coming in from all over. The people I work with came to my house with two cribs for the twins, a twin-sized bed and two toddler beds. There was a retired colonel in my house, setting up beds for my grandchildren."
Moss is overwhelmed by the outreach of help from the people in the community and reeling by the donations of food, gifts and supplies strangers have stopped by to drop off.
"I feel so loved and so blessed," Moss said. "I've never met half of these people, and I just want to thank them all. These kids are going to have an amazing Christmas."
Contact reporter Jennifer A. Bowen at jbowen@bnd.com or 239-2667.
Ellie
Community comes together to help family at Christmas
Grandmother with six kids has needs met
BY JENNIFER A. BOWEN
News-Democrat
O'FALLON - It was hard enough being a single working mom raising an 11-year-old boy with Down syndrome, but when Maxine Moss found her home filled with five additional children, all under the age of 8, she was overwhelmed.
"That first day I just stood outside and cried because there wasn't anything else to do," Moss, 48, said. "I was down to my last three Pampers and I couldn't go to the store because I couldn't leave the kids alone and I didn't have anyone I could turn to."
Moss' 26-year-old daughter, mother of the five young children, is unable to care for them, Moss said. So Moss stepped in to care for her grandchildren: 5-month old twin boys, a 2-year-old boy, 3-year-old girl, and a 7-year-old girl.
The father of the 7-, 3-, and 2-year-olds is deployed to Iraq and unable to come home to care for the children. The father of the twins in not in the picture.
Moss needed help but didn't know where to turn. Then her co-workers and the community opened their hearts. Boxes of food, packages of diapers, a Christmas tree, Christmas gifts and furniture started arriving at the door of her townhouse from Scott Air Force Base, individuals, churches, food panties and the city of O'Fallon.
The Marines showed up in a fire engine at her home Friday with a load of Christmas gifts for the children.
Moss is a civilian employee at the Tanker Airlift Control Center at Air Mobility Command headquartered at the base. She also is an Air Force individual mobility augmentee, similar to a reservist but without an actual unit to report to.
"O'Fallon found out and the Marines found out and everyone has been just amazing," Moss said. "Someone from the O'Fallon Food Pantry came by with a turkey and said, 'I think you could probably use this.' Churches gave me towels and sheets. It's been so overwhelming, and I cannot believe how wonderfully giving this community is."
Co-workers donated some of their leave time to Moss and she was advanced sick leave so she could stay home and take care of the children while waiting for her son-in-law to return home from Iraq.
"Within a couple of days after I got the kids, the state came in and inspected my townhouse and told me I needed this many beds and I needed to get this and get that if I wanted to keep my grandkids," Moss said. "I don't know what my first sergeant (Air Force Sgt. Quinten Otto) did, but help started coming in from all over. The people I work with came to my house with two cribs for the twins, a twin-sized bed and two toddler beds. There was a retired colonel in my house, setting up beds for my grandchildren."
Moss is overwhelmed by the outreach of help from the people in the community and reeling by the donations of food, gifts and supplies strangers have stopped by to drop off.
"I feel so loved and so blessed," Moss said. "I've never met half of these people, and I just want to thank them all. These kids are going to have an amazing Christmas."
Contact reporter Jennifer A. Bowen at jbowen@bnd.com or 239-2667.
Ellie