Letter: Mother enriched by kindness of Christmas in April volunteers

I am the mother of six children, two of whom live with the HIV. Over the past 10 years, I have struggled with balancing the needs of my well children with monthly trips to Washington, D.C., for complex experimental therapies, multiple hospitalizations and more life-threatening events than one can count. Today, our children are doing well -- a blessing for which there are no adequate words.

Throughout this time, our family has had its usual crises, including major financial losses and stresses. There is an old saying that with each dark cloud comes a silver living. Our silver lining arrived when I received a call that our family was to be a recipient of the Christmas in April program. I was overwhelmed and skeptical (not understanding the program or why we were nominated).

Since then we have had the kindest, most compassionate groups of people come to our home to assess what we needed. Our home needed major repairs (which were not our first priority) along with fixing the damages in our roof, walls, bathroom and ceilings. Every person who came into our home provided us with a sense of kindness, consideration, respect and an incredible amount of hope about the goodness of our community.

Our home has not been the same since Christmas in April came to our family. We are not the same, either. We are much richer for knowing this program exists, for the extreme generosity of so many people, and the knowledge that these caring individuals exist right in our own back yard. My family and I have never felt so proud to be Las Vegans.

Pat Broadbent

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