Dear F&CS friend,
We want you to meet Alexis, a young girl whose life you unknowingly made better.
Alexis held back tears when her mother dropped her off at Nana’s house while she went to work. Alexis loved staying with Nana and going to school on her computer; but she was terrified her mother, who worked as a waitress, would get sick with the coronavirus and maybe die. She overheard her mom tell her Nana that her hours were being cut and she wasn’t sure how she could afford her rent. Then Nana told her mom that she was worried she’d get sick from COVID. Alexis became inconsolable, but kept what she heard a secret.
As weeks slid into months, all of her worries, isolation and sadness began piling up. She missed her friends, school, soccer and sleepovers. She felt afraid and sad all the time worrying her mother or grandmother would get sick and die. She began crying herself to sleep at night. Mom tried to comfort and reassure her. When she realized her usual ways of calming her daughter were no longer working, she reached out to Family & Children’s Services for help.
It took a few virtual counseling sessions with the F&CS therapist for Alexis to realize that talking about her underlying fears, anger and sadness actually made her feel better. The therapist also provided Alexis and her mom social support, community resources and techniques for controlling anxiety. She encouraged the mom to validate her daughter’s emotions, create regular routines and playtime with Alexis and reassure her that they were doing everything possible to stay safe.
Alexis is doing well now. But she is just one of thousands of children whose mental health has been adversely affected by the virus. The everchanging landscape of our lives and the piling up of hardships combined with the distress of the prolonged length of the pandemic is taking its toll on parent and child wellbeing.
With no end to pandemic in sight, we fear the need will only continue to grow. We need your help now more than ever to safely serve children and their parents whose wellbeing is suffering.
We depend on generous donors like you to fill in funding gaps and keep our programs strong, especially in times of crisis. Won’t you please make a gift today to support Alexis and others
like her?
YOU have the power to strengthen family bonds, transform lives and truly make a difference in this community. We simply cannot thank you enough!
With gratitude,
Gail Lapidus
Chief Executive Officer, Family & Children’s Services
P.S. Thanks to the CARES Act, a new tax deduction is available: up to $300 per taxpayer ($600 for married couples) in annual charitable contributions for 2020.
Alexis’s mother was struggling too. She stressed about work, paying her bills, and helping Alexis with virtual schoolwork. She sensed her daughter’s anxiety and tried her best to comfort her. Nothing worked. That’s when she contacted Family & Children’s Services for help.
Since COVID, this is not a unique story; but what is unique is that because of generous donors, F&CS was able to provide help for the family at no cost to them. They were given an iPad so that Alexis could virtually talk to a therapist. And when the weather turned cold, F&CS helped them out with coats, gloves and meals.
