United Way Partner Agencies: Help for All

There is still time to participate in this year’s program and make a difference to non-profit agencies serving our community.  Agencies like the Homeless Alliance, whose customers some of our libraries share; Big Brothers/Big Sisters and Boys & Girls Club, who help mentor our youth for tomorrow; Girl Scouts of Western Oklahoma, who help build girls with courage, confidence, and character. The program concludes Oct. 15 and we hope to have reached our goal of $17,000 by that time.

View a special message from Del City Library's Angel Suhrstedt:

United Way Partner Agencies: Help for All

Meet the Maddox Family 

This Oklahoma City family of five has its own share of challenges. Mom and dad both have demanding, full-time jobs. They have two rambunctious, adorable young boys. And their first-born, 13-year-old SaNiyah, has cerebral palsy. She’s confined to a wheelchair and depends on others for everything.

Every morning, SaNiyah’s mother’s routine begins before sunrise – because she’s responsible for getting three children ready. There’s breakfast, bathing, medications, clothes, toothbrushing, some cartoons and everything else that comes with young children. And often, SaNiyah gets sick during the morning routine. At best, this means ruining the clothes her mother has dressed her in – and starting over on that part of the morning routine. At worst, it could mean a trip to the hospital. Luckily, the Maddoxes are patient, friendly, loving people – who have surrounded themselves with a great support network.

SaNiyah spends her days at Special Care – where her mother also works, and where she gets an incredible level of attention and love from staff and teachers. Those same people are patient and understanding when Tiffany must miss work because SaNiyah has become ill.

On top of everything else, the Maddoxes also foster an infant who needed a good home. And you’d be hard pressed to find a better one.

That makes four kids – two young boys, a teen with cerebral palsy and a baby who isn’t even their own. It’s much more than most of us could handle.

And here’s the big surprise: the Maddoxes don’t just receive United Way help – in the form of Special Care. They believe in the power of change, so they also set aside their hard-earned money and give to the United Way.