The Perfect Christmas--– Kara Skinner Family

Kara Skinner’s Family

Kara Skinner's Family

The perfect Christmas is what everyone who celebrates the holiday wants to have. The idea of the perfect Christmas varies from person to person. Some want to be home with their families and others want to travel for the holiday.

In the case of Kara Skinner, a single mother raising eight children, her idea of a perfect Christmas is one where everyone is together, knows how much they are loved, and feels fulfilled with where they’re at so they do not feel like anything is missing. 

Kara has been taking care of her niece and nephew who lost their father. She also is caring for two other children in a family that struggled with addiction. “I worry about the kids I am fostering as far as them missing out, or feeling like they’re missing out, because they are not with their siblings or with mom and dad,” she said.

Inflation, construction to their house, and taking care of eight children have made it really hard for Skinner to give her family the good Christmas that she would like. 

“Having this many kids, it’s really tight this year,” Kara said. “After I get paid, there’s very little left for extra.”

New Hope Services has been working with the family to help relieve some of the stress of having to take care of eight children. Healthy Families is a New Hope program to support parents that helps connect them with community resources.

*Abridged story & photo courtesy of News and Tribune 
 
Clarksville Mother-to-be Ready for a New Beginning

Seanna’s Story

Seanna's Story

Seanna Kidd has never had a Christmas tree. She can’t afford a traditional tree this year, especially since her son is due a few days before Christmas, but the 20-year-old won’t let that stop her.

“I was never really allowed to celebrate Christmas so I was, just like gung ho crazy for Christmas, and everything is going to have glitter all over it,” she said. 

Kidd created three triangular Christmas trees from a box her Healthy Families case manager, Amy Speedy, gave her. She wrapped the trees in glitter wrapping paper from her boyfriend and said she will use the homemade ornament stickers as decorations. 

Seanna moved to Southern Indiana a few months ago with a cousin; she’s from Denver, Colorado. “I was in a really tough situation in Denver, and it was either move here (with my cousin) or pretty much be homeless,” she said. 

Now she’s pregnant and navigating a new world. She said she was extremely sheltered as a child and didn’t even know her own age until last year. Her grandmother helped her get her birth certificate, which told her how old she was.