Just going to the grocery store can be an obstacle for Jessi Ayers who is often confined to her home caring for two small daughters, one of whom is disabled.
For that reason, as well as financial issues, Ayers is grateful her toddlers are recipients of The Era’s Less Fortunate (ELF) Fund, which provides gifts to the needy in the area during the Christmas season.
Ayers, who is a single mother with daughters, Charlotte, 18 months, and Mavis, 3, shared her story to help spread the word about the program. The ELF Fund matches volunteer gift-buyers with needy children age 17 or younger and senior citizens age 60 or older residing in the Bradford Area School District.
Ayers said she heard about The ELF Fund last year from her former mother-in-law.
Ayers, who had spent her early years in Bradford and moved away, returned to Bradford in 2012. She had complications during her pregnancy with Mavis, who was born prematurely with health issues. The infant was in immediate need of a feeding tube and breathing tube, but doctors had difficulty inserting them because her trachea and esophagus were combined. As a result, Mavis was taken to Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh of UPMC the following day for surgery to separate the organs.
“A month later they diagnosed her with CHARGE syndrome,” Ayers said of the genetic disorder that causes developmental delays and affects many areas of the body including the eyes, heart, nose, growth and ears. Ayers said her daughter has hearing difficulties and continues to have a feeding tube for nourishment and tracheal tube for breathing. Despite this, her little girl is active with her younger sister. Ayers said Mavis will start attending school at the Intermediate Unit 9 next month, but until that happens, she stays at home for the most part because of a weak immune system. Ayers noted that during her first 18 months of life, Mavis fought off numerous bouts of pneumonia. Because of this, Mavis, her mother and sister have stayed at home during winter months.
“We do have nurses and therapists from Early Intervention who come here,” Ayers said of in-home services provided to her daughter. “And I get two nurses who flip-flop (schedules) during the week.”
Ayers said she gets very little help from her husband, whom she is separated from, or relatives.
“I can’t go out, I’m locked inside,” she lamented, noting she has some individuals who pick up groceries for the family.
And when she takes Mavis to doctors in distant cities, money is tight.
“Every dime I have goes mainly for medical stuff (for Mavis) like going to Pittsburgh or Erie,” she added. Which is why the ELF Fund makes such as big difference for the family at Christmas.
“I got it last year and the year before,” she said of the ELF gifts. “It helps out a lot because I can’t get out of the house” and have no extra money for Christmas.
A PSA Healthcare nurse who helps Ayers at the household, Carrie Thomas, said she is happy the ELF program is available for the family. Thomas said she also has helped the program in the past and will help again this year when she and her daughter shop for an ELF recipient.
“I got a (tag) for a little boy — this is the third year we’ve done it,” Thomas said. “It’s not just about receiving, but about giving. That’s what I’m trying to teach my daughter.”
Tags representing the holiday wishes of each recipient were distributed into the community Nov. 1, and can be found hanging on trees in local businesses and organizations
Next week, volunteer gift buyers will be able to drop off their wrapped presents at this year’s distribution center, the former Goodwill space in the Save-A-Lot building at 75 Forman St., courtesy of building owner Varischetti & Sons of Brockway.
The distribution center will be open to collect gifts from noon to 6 p.m. Nov. 28, 29 and 30, as well as from 9 a.m. to noon Dec. 2. ELF volunteers will then purchase gifts for any tags that were not returned and finish wrapping them.
Distribution day will be Dec. 8, and each recipient will be given a specific time to come pick up their presents.
The ELF season will come to a close Dec. 10, when the annual ELF Fund senior Christmas party will be held at 6 p.m. Dec. 10 at the University of Pittsburgh at Bradford. This year’s performance will be a musical production by the Bradford Little Theatre of “A Holly Jolly Christmas,” with a script by Bradford’s own Kristin Asinger.
