“They look like ‘Oh, they’re just scraping by. They need to get a car. Look how he is getting his kids to school’. The important thing in life is not what people think of you. The only important thing is that I’m getting it done for my family,”

BUT

“Education is No. 1 for us. We know they have clean clothes, good shoes, are at school on time and have food in their stomachs.”

Those are the words of Willie Jackson, father of 5 from St. Petersburg, Flordia. He and his wife Zenata are struggling through hard times to ensure the survival of their family and the education of their five children.

29-year-old Willie threw out his lower back after he was hit by a car, disabling his ability to do construction jobs. He now works late shift, until 3am, at Applebees and is up at 7am to help bike some of his kids to school, one-by-one. BUT despite the hardship the kids have to goto school, education is a priority and this resilient family are working to ensure the kids don’t lose out.

The family had been living in a nasty motel for nearly 19 months when they were evicted. In some ways a blessing because they found a cheaper nicer home for the family but it’s much further away from the kid’s schools, so they have to have much less sleep and travel so much more. However affording a car is just off their radar right now.

This is an example of a family who care about their kids despite their tough circumstance, they work as hard as they can and keep pushing through. These are the families that need a break, that could be worthy of a little help.

And that’s what Holiday Hopes wants for the Jackson family. They want to help the family get a car, get the cash to pay tags and insurance and of course car seats.

Contact Susan Jacobs with Wheels of Success at (813) 995-5040 if you think you can help.

Read more about the family and their daily life in the profile on TampaBay.com here