Elizabeth F.

I am a mother of soon to be 5 children. I was a single mother with my first 2 children for 5 years. I would dedicate and sacrifice myself to work to earn enough money for them to attend a Catholic school. When I got married, we moved out to a new home and I became a stay at home mom. That’s when things became very difficult for us because we were unable to afford the tuition on a single income. Sadly, for the first year my children attended a local public school for the first time in their lives and that had a major impact on them. My children were noticeably unhappy and it felt like everything I sacrificed to educate them and give them a good formation in their upbringing went to waste right before my eyes. Just when I felt like all hope was gone is when I heard about Empower Illinois from my sister. I immediately took action, and with much hope and prayer both my children were blessed with receiving this scholarship.

This will be the third year Raphael and Annabelle receive scholarships to attend St. Mary of the Angels School. As a proud mother I have seen the extreme difference to see how important a good education is for our children. Today, my son is an 8th grader and my daughter is in 3rd grade. Never have I witnessed such happiness in there lives along with the motivation to improve academically and spiritually. I want to thank everyone from the bottom of my heart all the support from Empower Illinois for granting them this opportunity and the SMA school staff for the wonderful job they have done educating all their students!