Beds for Maya’s Boys
Until six months ago, Maya, 48, was her family’s sole wage earner. She worked as an aide to the elderly and did whatever she could to stretch her small income to care for her five children.
Her husband, Ya’akov, 62, suffers from emotional issues that keep him from holding a steady job, although occasionally he cleans the stairs in a nearby building. The couple’s oldest child is married with five children. Their second child lives with Maya and Ya’akov, along with her husband and two small children, one of whom has special needs.
In the past year, worsening health problems have made Maya weak and under her doctor’s orders, she can no longer work. This has increased her stress enormously, as the family now has no income at all.
Maya and Ya’akov’s youngest son, who is 16, does not have a bed. Currently, he shares his 20-year-old brother’s broken mattress. Maya would like each boy to have his own bed, but there is no money with which to buy them.
