Single mother seeks help from Empty Stocking Fund

Lasonya is a 33-year-old disabled, single mother with multiple sclerosis.

She has two boys, aged 7 and 21 months old, respectively. She is relying on the Salvation Army’s Empty Stocking Fund to help her during the holiday season.

The Empty Stocking Fund has been providing relief to needy people for 27 years. It is a joint effort between the Salvation Army and the Morning News to bring Christmas to impoverished and low-income families in six Pee Dee counties.

Lasonya found out in 2004 that she had multiple sclerosis. She started falling down unexpectedly. Her eyesight worsened and she began slurring her speech.

And she was paralyzed on her right side. She had no use of it.

“I knew that something was wrong,” she said Tuesday during a telephone interview. “I thought I was having a stroke.”

Lasonya went to several local doctors. She said they didn’t know what was wrong.

So she went to a doctor in Florida, who told her she was suffering from multiple sclerosis.

“Nobody still knows how it happened or why,” she said. “I just try to live with it now, thanks to a doctor here in Florence who has been a godsend.”

Lasonya’s oldest son wants an XBox for Christmas. But that is just a wish because she said the family needs clothes more than anything else.

“It’s just the three of us living in a small apartment,” she said. “Anything we can get through the Empty Stocking Fund will be a blessing.”

With the help of the Empty Stocking Fund, the Salvation Army was able to give assistance to 868 families during the 2007 holiday season. Total individuals served, including the families, were 8,458.

Last year, the fund raised $77,992.06 to help families in Chesterfield, Darlington, Dillon, Florence, Marion and Marlboro counties.

Heading up the fund on the Salvation Army side are Maj. Cape Grice and his wife, Maj. Brenda Grice. They took the reins of the Florence Salvation Army office in July.

“The Empty Stocking Fund is a great benefit to the Salvation Army and the community,” Brenda Grice said.

Other ways to help the Salvation Army make Christmas brighter for those in need include:

• Donating at a Salvation Army Christmas kettle
• Adopting a family by dropping off gifts at the Salvation Army by Dec. 15 between 9 a.m. and 3 p.m.
• Donating new, unwrapped toys for children through age 12, which will be distributed from the Salvation Army’s toy shop Dec. 23.

The Empty Stocking Fund not only accepts monetary and gift donations, but also food and clothing.