“You almost couldn’t see a baby, there were so many tubes and wires; and he was very, very swollen, you couldn’t recognize him,” recalls Nancy AuClair, mother of quadruplet boys.   She is describing the scene of the youngest in the set, Connor, in the pediatric intensive care unit struggling to survive following surgery to remove a 12 cm tumor from his liver. He was barely nine months old. The scene worsens as Nancy tells of how Connor ‘coded’, or stopped breathing, several times post-surgery.  “At one point, I told my husband that I’ve given him (Connor) permission to go; that it just was not fair to put him through it,” she recalls. But her husband, Chris, reminded her of something that she knew very well from experience – Connor was a fighter and had been from day one.

“I plan on going back to Liberia to visit someday, and eventually spend time in both places,” says 19 year-old Jared Kolleh.

Before fleeing his home in Monrovia, Liberia five years ago with his mother, Jared spent his first 14 years enduring the bloody civil war there.  They struggled for survival, as the war dragged on, starting and stopping over and over. “It was pretty hard because we had to run through places where shooting was going on, trying to find food and things - we went through a lot,” he recalls.

April 20th saw hundreds of volunteers out for the 2nd Annual Savannah’s Big Give.   The citywide volunteer service event is a partnership between the Westin Savannah Harbor, Liberty Mutual Legends of Golf Tournament, The Savannah Harbor Foundation and United Way Hands On Savannah that pairs community volunteers with nonprofits in need of assistance.   The multiple service projects included in the Big Give provided repairs and beautification to organizations from Tybee to west Savannah.  But of the day’s projects, one in particular turned out to be a truly serendipitous event.

They say that a man’s home is his castle – his refuge and a source of pride.  But for the many homeless in our community, the sense of personal value that literally comes with the territory is elusive.

“I guess you could say it was an epiphany,” says Victoria Eden of her decision to come to Georgia.   A single mother with four children at home, including her adult daughter Lauren, who is developmentally disabled, Victoria knows a thing or two about following her heart. 

Jerome Singleton started working at age 16.  “I’ve always had a job. I’ve never applied for unemployment because I always found work somewhere.  It may not have been what I wanted to do, but I did it,” says the dedicated father of three.  So when Jerome lost his employment as a heavy-equipment operator due to an on-the-job injury that resulted in a complete knee-replacement, he didn’t know what he was going to do.  But whatever it was, he was determined to do it on his own. “I was down for the count, but I wasn’t out,” he says.  

By the time of the victory celebration in late November, most people are well-aware of United Way of the Coastal Empire’s efforts to raise millions of dollars in support of local human service programs to impact the wellbeing of our community. 

When it comes to leveraging resources and mobilizing volunteers to help people in need, United Way of the Coastal Empire in Bryan County has its act together. “The support from the community has been phenomenal; from City government to County government to law enforcement to the church community to the average person on the street, “says Janice Blunt, Area Director of United Way in Bryan County. Janice, along with a team of community volunteers and partner entities, provide a growing list of services to North Bryan County residents. Through these strategic collaboratives, programs like SHEPherd’s Supper, Bonus Bag and The Clothes Line have given folks in this area something to smile about.

Imagine you get diagnosed with cancer.  Then imagine while on leave for treatment of that cancer, you lose your job.  Then imagine someone tells you they are going to take away your home because you are behind on payments because you lost your job because of that cancer; and not just any home, but the home where you have lived for 20 years with your family.  For most, we couldn’t begin to imagine this confluence of tragedy; but for Frances Stoney-Graham and her family, it was a reality as harsh and bitter as a winter day.

What began with a few innocent overdrafts grew into an unexpected journey through credit debt disaster and back again for Patrick Kilpatrick.  

Like most of us, Patrick is fairly conservative when it comes to spending.  He’s a bargain shopper, often choosing the economical option and rarely, if ever, using credit for frivolous extras. “My parents had some debt issues, and so they preached to me about credit cards,” he recalls.  But despite their efforts to warn Patrick about the allure of easy money, he eventually fell prey, beginning with a line of credit on his first banking account. “I didn’t overdraw it often, but I never went back and paid it off, so it stayed there. I’d pay my minimum, but it just grew over time,” he says.