She's raising eight grandchildren and is struggling
with multiple sclerosis
http://www.contracostatimes.com/news/stories_news/sscarpenter_20011202.htm
Published Sunday, December 2, 2001
ANTIOCH -- Her purpose in life, she
says, is to help others.
"It's God's will," Ina Carpenter
says matter-of-factly. "That's what I was born to do."
Despite the tough hand life has dealt
her, she's fulfilling her calling.
In addition to caring for her four
younger siblings at different times in her life, as well as raising her
own two children and a stepdaughter, Carpenter took a third generation
under her wing.
Until late last year, the 56-year-old
widow had 10 mouths to feed. She's still caring for eight of them, all
belonging to her daughter or stepdaughter.
She spared the youngsters from languishing
in the foster care system, where six of the eight had spent time.
Carpenter adopted two, her 18-year-old
granddaughter and her stepdaughter's 10-year-old.
Ranging in age from 8 to 21, five
now struggle with learning disabilities and a sixth was born with a mental
handicap.
Unable to work because she has multiple
sclerosis, Carpenter lives on the $869 monthly disability check she receives
from Social Security along with the government allowance that families
receive for each foster child.
But as she has given, Carpenter also
has received.
She became a client of the Salvation
Army Corps after moving her brood to Antioch from San Francisco six years
ago. The agency is one of many in Contra Costa aided by readers' donations
to the annual Share the Spirit campaign.
Since then, she's regularly turned
to the Antioch nonprofit organization to make ends meet.
Carpenter managed to buy a four-bedroom
home based on the $33,000 a year she receives in government aid. Without
additional help she says she wouldn't be able to take the children on outings.
"Try to put 10 kids in coats, pay
car notes and house notes," she said of the challenge she faced last fall
before two girls returned to their mothers.
"My food bill is almost $1,000 a
month. (Withholding supplemental aid) would take away from them."
This year's Thanksgiving turkey came
from the Salvation Army, as did the new coats five of her girls received
last winter. Three bags of groceries each month help Carpenter stretch
her food budget; shoes, shirts, pants and skirts make it easier to keep
the kids in clothes.
The Salvation Army bought the children
radios and gift certificates to Target last year, and employees help a
handful of them with their homework every day after school.
On Tuesday evenings the children
sit down to a hot meal along with other members of the Salvation Army's
Kids Club, which organizes activities such as arts and crafts projects.
Carpenter's girls attend the Sunday
school the Salvation Army offers and accompany her to its church services.
After that, they change into the
uniforms it subsidizes and attend the weekly cheerleading practices held
on the premises.
Gratitude motivates Carpenter to
spend half a dozen hours a week volunteering at the Salvation Army answering
the telephone, filing and cooking the Tuesday dinners.
After all, she says, the organization
is helping her realize her only dream.
"If God would leave me here long
enough to see my babies be grown, that's all I ask," Carpenter said. "Right
now they wouldn't have a chance. They (are) too little."
© 2001 Contra Costa Newspapers
Inc
By Rowena Coetsee
CONTRA COSTA TIMES