Noteworthy

Offer of holiday help multiplies on social media

A Facebook post, a Nextdoor entry and a surge of generosity are warming the heart of a Cary mom.

Posted Updated

By
Richard Adkins
, WRAL photojournalist
CARY, N.C. — From her modest west Cary home, Sam Blair knows what it's like to need a little help. A single mom to 10-year old daughter Lilli, Blair has has faced what she call “gaps” in her financial situation.

Blair speaks highly of those who have helped her. “I have family that has stepped in the gap. I have friends who have stepped in the gap,” she said. “I have a sister who still pays my phone bill, because I don't always have the ability to pay all my bills.”

Blair's situation is more steady now. She is about to buy her first home. But in this time of the pandemic, she knows there are others in need.

Recently she read a posting from a friend on Facebook, it reads in part: “If you are not working/not getting a paycheck/struggling to stay afloat ... please don’t let yourself or your kids go to sleep with an empty stomach.”

“It was a beautiful message that just hit the heart, like hit me in the heart”, Blair said.

Sam Blair copied and pasted this post to her Nextdoor and got an outpouring of offers to help

She copied and pasted it to her own social media accounts. The post continues, “If you know ANYONE, and I mean ANYONE, in need of food, warm clothes or holiday gifts, please please reach out to me.”

Blair wanted to help.

“Immediately when I posted it, I felt a little bit of shaking in my boots, because I thought 'what if I get more responses than I'm able to help with?'” she said.

She received seven requests asking for food and clothes. “We've had people who asked for bills to be paid,” she said.

But it's the more than 240 offers of help she received from neighbors that just made her heart swell. “I was just overwhelmed at the community generosity,” Blair said.

Working with neighbors, she has been able to fulfill some of the requests, but mostly she has filled her own heart with joy.

“This has just given me an opportunity to connect with my community on a whole new level, and it just warms my heart that I live here with such great people," she said.

Blair hopes the words she shared will continue to make waves across her community.

“This message might be a ripple effect, and people just take it and post it on the Facebook page or Nextdoor app and just see what happens.”

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