AT this stage of her life, being a single mother with three children was the last thing Alterine Shaw-Grant thought would have been her situation. In the middle of undergoing a divorce, Shaw-Grant has also found herself on the unemployment line — with her former domestic jobs a casualty of the coronavirus pandemic.

The caring mother admits that it has been very difficult financially, especially since her children are all at the high school level and must do their studies online with the suspension of face-to-face classes due to the containment measures implemented by the Government.

Shaw-Grant says with just one mobile phone to be shared among her children to connect to their virtual classes, it has been extremely difficult for them to function. The children are in first, third and sixth forms in high school.

Being a woman of God, the unemployed mother said that since March she has been praying for a miracle to rescue her from her woes. And sure enough, her prayers were partially answered when just two weeks ago when a good Samaritan with knowledge of her difficulties made an appeal to United Way of Jamaica for assistance.

The charity organisation, in partnership with Scotiabank, responded to the appeal by spreading some ‘love’ over the Yuletide season with a gift of two laptop computers and a tablet computer to aid in her children’s online education. She also received $60,000 in vouchers to purchase well-needed groceries for the Christmas holidays.

Peter Mohan, Scotiabank branch manager, who made the presentation, said “this year has been a tough year for most persons and when we heard of this family struggling to get through the day with online classes and even just to buy food, we decided to assist.”

Shaw-Grant was elated. “The gift of not one, but three devices is a big help because they all will now have all they need to do their schoolwork,” she shared. Continuing, she said: “We had even been discussing that the girls would get laptops and my son would get a tablet and so this is a big surprise and we are very appreciative.”

Now that her children will be able to attend to their online classes in comfort, Shaw-Grant is looking to the new year with high hopes that her prayers for a stable job to enable her to pay her bills and attend to the needs of her children will also be answered.