City boy grows up fast to give family a chance

[DogPoundPup]

Source: Courier-Post

CAMDEN — While other children play games or watch television, 10-year-old Chris Little spends his free time searching the streets for cans and bagging groceries at a neighborhood store.

Nobody asked him to do these things. The Parkside Elementary fifth-grader started looking for ways to earn money all on his own, because, he explained, "I saw my mom was struggling and I was trying to do my best."

His mom, Carole Bell, said she found out she had cervical cancer when she was pregnant with Chris. She underwent treatment, she said, but then the cancer returned. By last year, she said, she was too sick to work; by the summer, so sick "I couldn't barely get up to go to the bathroom."

Bell found herself trying to calculate an impossible equation: how to care for four boys on a fixed income of about $400 a month in child support. Friends gave her hefty breaks on rent, and the boys -- three sons aged 7, 8 and 10 and a 10-year-old nephew she takes care of -- pitched in around the house.

Read more: http://www.courierpostonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/200811090310/NEWS01/811090406

[Tiggeroshii]

1. That makes me really sad...

[liberalmuse]

2. Oh my god.

That is heartbreaking. I'm going to email the reporter to see if there's anything I can do. And people making over $250k are complaining that they are going to pay a little more on their taxes. I can't reconcile that with what I just read.

[LisaL]

7. Good idea.

[mod mom]

21. please post the response you receive.

[Beaverhausen]

3. Where's the bail-out plan for families like this?

I hope this article gets them some more help. A 10 year old should not have to work.

[file83]

45. but, but, but, that would be SOCIALISM!!!11!!1

:sarcasm:

[roguevalley]

4. that little boy forgot more about character and empathy than the

entire bush admin. will ever know. What an angel. This is awful.

[phusion]

5. What a kid...

doing stuff that kids shouldn't have to do.

The sad thing is there are probably millions like him in this country.

[emilyg]

8. Millions like him in the world. So sad.

[Joe Chi Minh]

44. ....like him in the richest country in the world, too.

[truedelphi]

6. I remember touring some poorer areas in Europe during the 1970's

And seeing a child or two begging in the street.

I remember thinking how good it is that our nation doesn't do that to its citizens.

The times have really really changed and so much for the worse.

[tblue37]

17. My first trip to Spain was in the summer of 1971. I remember how shocked

I was to find actual beggars in the streets. (This was back when Franco was still alive.)

At the time, I was just 21 years old and fairly naive. I was shocked at the beggars, but I was also complacent enough to believe that such could not happen in my country.

Since then, of course, the US has become what Spain was at that time--a country ruled by authoritarians, with homeless beggars everywhere.

[truedelphi]

36. Around 1971, the parents of one of my friends had visited Spain.

They were saying how there was a huge division between the rich and the poor. That the middle class was just about gone. And that the tax code was so heavily tipped in favor of the rich and against the poor and the middle class.

And now all of that is true here. <sigh>

[devilgrrl]

9. Is it me? Or does this article seem like it was written in 1908.

[Johonny]

33. that's what I was thinking

My 78 year old co-worker talks about working at 10 to start to earn some money for the family.

[Doremus]

42. I know a man who ran away from home at the age of 10 rather than work in the coal mines.

His father told him one day it was time he went to work in the mines. He said he would never work in those mines and ran away.

He lived on the streets, with the kindness of strangers.

This was back in the 1930s. Amazing.

[Shardik]

10. Thanks for posting this and thank you, mods for leaving this in LBN

This is a truly touching story that all should go to the link in the OP and read in completion.

Recommended.

[mdmc]

11. their story is being heard

[crickets]

12. But we just had to cough up 700 fucking BILLION dollars

Because it would never be okay again if we didn't give those bankers what they wanted. And that was partly just because it 'sounded like a good number.'

Bless the children.

Tick. Tock.

[NikolaC]

22. Exactly

Why the hell are banks, airlines and car companies deserving of help and handouts in the trillions, but families that are in desperate and dire need are ignored and slapped down? Where are the handouts for those who are in need? Why is it bad to give to people who are losing their homes, starving, suffering because our "healthcare" system is in the shitter? No, we have to bail out the billionaires who got us into this mess and allow jobs to be shipped everywhere else instead of keeping them here, meanwhile rewarding the companies who do it.

That is one amazing kid and I feel awful that he has to do that. He deserves to have his childhood, his mother deserves to have help. I hope that they get the help that they need soon.

[crickets]

52. You and me both. -nt

[Corgigal]

13. I would so love to buy these kids some christmas gifts

I wonder if I mail something to his school if they would forward them to him or his Mom. What a touching story and I hope someone in the Obama Adminstration, to be, see the story on this little guy.

[kevinbgoode]

18. I agree. . .he shouldn't have to worry about the holiday gifts. . .

and it would be nice if enough people could donate for his family to get a bit of relief from worry. . .

[Dollface]

25. An early Christmas card would be nice with a little something tucked inside.

[Frank Cannon]

14. Uniquely American, isn't it?

I mean, that is fantastic that he's doing that!

[proud2BlibKansan]

15. Beat me to it

My first thought was when Bush praised that woman who had 3 jobs.

[Frank Cannon]

23. His statement set the gold standard for douchebaggery

When I was growing up, I never would have believed that this kind of situation in our own country would be accepted--let alone praised as an example--by our President.

[Swagman]

16. in the richest nation on earth !

[tblue37]

19. The contact info for the reporter is given at the bottom of the story.

[email protected]
or (856)-486-2476

I bet the reporter can tell us how to get money to that family.

I choose certain charities every year around Christmas time. The local Humane Society and the Kansas City rescue society I got one of my cats from always get donations, but then I look for a couple of more personal recipients. I am guessing that a fund will be set up for this boy and his family, and that we can send donations to him that way. I hope so, because if so, this will definitely be one of my Christmas charities this year.

[tblue37]

20. I just sent an email to the reporter asking whether a fund has been

established for Chris and his family--and if not, whether there is some other way we can contribute to them. I will let you know if I hear back from her.

Contact info for the reporter: Reach Deborah Hirsch at [phone] or [email protected]

[Cults4Bush]

26. I'll be watching this space then.

Please do let us know, and thank you! :)

[RavensChick]

35. Please post it when you hear back from her!

That is the most heart wrenching story I've seen. Surely there's got to be someone in the neighborhood or a nearby church who can help them. My brother used to live there back in the 70's and even then it was rough. I can imagine how the little boy's mother feels, but I'm certain she's very proud of him for stepping up to the plate and helping out.

K & R!!!!!

[Broadslidin]

24. So sorry, Carroll Bell's corporate computer file lists her as a "Poor Business Opportunity"

Carefully reviewing her 'Permanent Medical Record',
tis the time honored American :patriot: Corporate business model
working tirelessly,
ensuring healthy profit margins
and protecting stock holder equity.

Maybe Carroll Bell will just go away a little sooner,
than later....

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

27. Been in that situation

My brother helped support our family starting at 10 by delivering on not one but two paper routes. Mom and Dad had separated, Dad taking all the assets. Mom had a part time job, which paid less than what a man in the same job would earn. Bro worked those routes until he was 15 or 16 and then worked in a grocery store until he graduated from high school and enlisted in the Army. This was the '50s. Nowadays, my father would have been made to pay child support, my mother would have been paid equally for her work, and there would have been more government help while mom struggled to get back on her feet (which she did). May we have universal health care and more government help for folks like this. Though my brother often talks fondly of his paper routes, I've noticed that none of his children went to work at such an early age.

[Sarah Ibarruri]

28. Bless this family. :(

I trust that (tho we're expecting so much of Obama, it's humanly impossible he can get everything done), I hope that he will make it possible to help people in situations like these. :(

[tazkcmo]

29. Friggin Welfare Queens!

What a bunch of whiners! First, she shouldn't have had all those kids knowing she was just gonna get cancer so she could lie around in bed all day. She's being a drain on the economy by having friends supply her basic needs instead of spending that money on frivilous items thus spurring Chinese job growth! What she NEEDS is a pair of boot straps to pick herself up by! I knew this was gonna happen when that Marxist got elected!!!
----------------------------------SARCASM------------------------------------------------------------

[Joe Chi Minh]

43. Yes. I bet Paulson would give them all a good ticking off!

[tblue37]

30. This is the response I got from the reporter:

I think it's great that you'd like to help. The story wasn't intended as a call for donations, so I'm waiting to find out how my editors want to handle requests to help. I'm also unexpectedly out of town for a funeral until Wednesday, so please stand by. I'll let you know as soon as I hear from them. Thanks for reading,- Deborah

As soon as I hear back from her (probably Wednesday) I will let you all know whether it will be possible to send donations to Chris and his family.

[emilyg]

47. Please let us know.

[riderinthestorm]

48. The reporter didn't think people would be moved to make donations?!! WTF??!!

I'm finding it hard to believe she felt her readers would be okay with a 10 year old boy struggling to keep his family intact, fed, and sheltered. That anyone could just read the story and say "cute kid", and go back to reading the advertisements.

What kind of nation have we become? I am really dumbfounded about the reporters' reaction as well - she didn't think people would respond with requests to help? Also, I just have to say that this story could and should have been so much more: about US social services and the current state of their affairs.

[AlphaCentauri]

51. Actually donations are just a temporary relieve

the system has to be change to grant that kid the opportunities he deserve

[ogneopasno]

31. What a shitty piece of journalism this is. It reads like something out of the fucking Onion. Hey,

Courier-Post, this is a goddamn tragedy that this 10-year-old kid has to WORK bagging groceries for fucking TIPS, so his cancer-ridden mother can buy school uniforms. It's NOT something to hold up as admirable they way this reporter has. There needs to be context to this story -- how many people have to do this? How many kids are being robbed of their childhood to support their sick parents? Why don't they have health care? This example would have been an excellent lead-in into an examination (and possible indictment) of New Jersey's public health system. But no, the reporter and editor got lazy and went for the Tiny Tim angle. Oh, how wonderful! What a kid! What a great grocery store, letting a 10-year-old come in and work for tips! Aw, shucks, they even check to make sure his homework is done! That's bootstrappin', I tell ya!

/Newspaper editor rant

[redqueen]

32. Reminds me of Bush's response when that woman told him

she had to work two jobs to make ends meet. He used the same method this reporter did, to downlplay the fact that this isn't how things should be, and make it seem as if it were a good thing.

[file83]

46. Or when Barbara Bush said that the Katrina Victims in Houston never had it so good...

[redqueen]

37. Found it!

THE PRESIDENT: Good. Okay, Mary, tell us about yourself.

MS. MORNIN: Okay, I'm a divorced, single mother with three grown, adult children. I have one child, Robbie, who is mentally challenged, and I have two daughters.
<...>
THE PRESIDENT: You work three jobs?

MS. MORNIN: Three jobs, yes.

THE PRESIDENT: Uniquely American, isn't it? I mean, that is fantastic that you're doing that. (Applause.) Get any sleep? (Laughter.)

MS. MORNIN: Not much. Not much.

THE PRESIDENT: Well, hopefully, this will help you get you sleep to know that when we talk about Social Security, nothing changes.

[ogneopasno]

38. Michelle Bachmann -- yes, THAT Michelle Bachmann -- said the same kind of thing a while ago...

From a January 2008 press conference "I am so proud to be from the state of Minnesota. We’re the workingest state in the country, and the reason why we are, we have more people that are working longer hours, we have people that are working two jobs."

Yeah, because our jobs are so shitty we can't support ourselves on just ONE, DUMBASS!

http://thinkprogress.org/2008/01/16/bachmann-jobs/

The hate, it hurts my head sometimes. Sorry to yell.

[redqueen]

39. It's okay...

I definitely empahtize.

[Turbineguy]

34. When you turn the US economy into

a less-than-zero-sum game, you have to have families like this so others can drive Ferrari's.

This has been the whole problem all along with Bush. He has never created wealth in his life and doesn't understand it.

[Cronus Protagonist]

40. My mum didn't have cancer, but I did the exact same thing

I had my own "BUSINESS" at 10 years old, plus by the time I was 11 and a half, I worked at the same time as a paper delivery boy, a store clerk and running errands for an elderly lady as well as my recycling business to round off my income.

I know how that kid feels.

[reggie the dog]

41. how long before the kid

gets pissed off about how little money he can make legally and goes for higher returns in the illegal market? I hope not, but hell there is a lot of pressure for him to do like so many others before him. Kids work in third world countries, pockets of the USA are third world and have been so for quite some time...

[Le Taz Hot]

49. And the Roman Catholic Church, Mormons and fundies

are where . . . ? Oh yeah, spending MILLIONS to pass Prop. 8. So much for charity.

[AlphaCentauri]

50. A common practice in latin america

poverty takes away child's infancy.