Even through all its hardships and troubles, a local Bradford
family still looks forward to Christmas, knowing it’s not going to
be a Christmas they’re used to.

Jean Smith is a single mother with a 13-year-old son, Julian,
and a 9-year-old daughter, Amanda. The family has been through some
hard times as of late.

Jean Smith has always had trouble with money because there has
only been one income.

Over the summer her car broke down which she couldn’t afford to
be fixed, leaving her with no way of getting to and from work.

This left Smith out of work with no income other than $500 month
from child support.

It also limited the things that she and her children could do.
Julian and Amanda Smith are very limited in what after-school
activities they can attend because their mother has no way to drop
them off or pick them up.

Things got worse when Jean Smith broke her ankle. With more
bills than money, the family’s natural gas ended up being shut
off.

Smith had a gas stove, which makes it very difficult to cook.
She was limited to cooking in a microwave and an electric skillet.
“We got used to it, but I couldn’t bake,” she said.

Once she had enough money to get the gas turned back on, another
problem struck – her water pipes broke. This caused a lot of damage
to the house and left her without water.

Smith had to bring in a contractor to fix the pipes. With her
parents help, she was able to pay for the pipes, but has yet to fix
damage to the house, yard and sidewalk.

Smith says that those projects will have to wait until spring or
summer, since there is no way she can afford that right now. She
has no estimate on how much that will cost.

Thanksgiving was also a hard time for the Smith family because
they had no money to put towards a Thanksgiving dinner. She decided
to contact the ELF (Era’s Less Fortunate) Fund and they provided
her with about $100 worth of groceries.

This was a thoughtful gift, but Smith was still without water,
leaving her no way to prepare the food. Instead, the ELF Fund
presented her with a gift certificate to a local restaurant so the
family could have a Thanksgiving dinner.

Smith is finally recovering from the broken ankle and is now
awaiting a scheduled gastric bypass surgery. This will keep her out
of work even longer.

Smith says that God has kept her hopes up. “People at the
Salvation Army and people at my church help too,” she said,
brimming with emotion. “God put me right where He wanted me to show
me who was there to help me, and it’s the Christian people that are
there to help me.”

This Christmas is going to be hard for the Smith family. Jean
Smith says this is going to be the first year that the kids
wouldn’t be getting anything from her and that’s why she is so
grateful for the ELF Fund.

Smith said, “I’ve always had a hard time asking for help. If it
wasn’t for one of my friends, I would have never asked for help and
I would have never known the ELF Fund was even out there.”

Smith says these hard times have affected the children, but that
they are good kids and they understand if they don’t get anything
for Christmas.

“They are old enough to understand that it isn’t all about the
presents,” Smith said. “They’ve learn to appreciate people a lot
more.”

Amanda Smith, an A and B student and member of the choir, didn’t
really know what she wanted for Christmas. “She’s asked me for
Bratz dolls and X-Box games,” said her mother. “She doesn’t tell me
that much because she knows I can’t afford it.”

Julian Smith says he’s going to join the fire company next year
and that he has currently taken up playing the guitar. He said, “I
would like to get an electric guitar for Christmas.” He is
currently playing on a guitar that his mother picked up a a garage
sale. “They could always use another football. They went through
two this summer,” Jean Smith said.

Jean Smith is more worried about her children and trying to make
sure that they have a good Christmas but wouldn’t mine to see her
house get spruced up. The water damage took its toll on the
house.

When asked what she wanted for Christmas, Jean Smith replied, “I
haven’t really though about it, stuff for the house, like paint and
maybe a Y (YMCA) membership.”

(Editor’s note: The names mentioned in this story have been
changed to protect their privacy.)