Copyright Charleston Post and Courier
GOOSE CREEK — Alecia Rambo took to Facebook with a small but desperate plea for an extra school uniform for her daughter, her fingers crossed someone might offer one, maybe two if she was lucky, to tide her over until her work picked up. Within hours more than 500 Berkeley County neighbors answered and another 1,000 offered support. By day’s end, the Goose Creek mom not only had several meetups for school clothes lined up, but offers for shoes, winter coats, a Halloween costume and a Christmas wish list people were ready to check off. She was hesitant to even post on the Berkeley County Growth & Development page out of self-consciousness, Rambo told The Post and Courier Oct. 28. But it crushed her to see daughter Adalyn put on the only dress she owns because her pants don’t fit and other kids tease her for it. “I watch the news, too, and with all the harsh things going on, and other families going through things, I never imagined one post going so viral,” she said. Rambo said that as a single mom with two other teenage children who live with their dad in Columbia, she’s struggling to juggle it all as her job pays the basic bills but with little left over. She works as a chef — her lifelong dream — at Toast in Summerville, but she said business has been slow and that she’s often sent home early, her hours cut back to just 20 some weeks. Finding another daytime job or supplemental work with a young child hasn’t been easy. And times only got tougher in August when Rambo’s stepfather died in Aiken. She had to pay for his cremation on her credit card. “I’m still paying to bring his ashes home, which is why I couldn’t afford the dresses,” she shared. Rambo’s call was solely for uniforms, but a snowball of other offers started small. “Does she have winter clothing? I have soo (sic) many that size!” one person, who would “love” to help, wrote. “Does she have a Halloween costume yet?” another asked. Some shared helpful advice about Goodwill vouchers and the local consignment shop Once Upon A Child, while others passed along coupons. One fellow parent offered up holiday clothes for Thanksgiving and Christmas. “I know this is beyond what you asked but I was once a struggling single mom and even a struggling married mom,” she wrote. Adalyn’s music teacher even chimed in. “I absolutely adore that sweet girl. I’m her music teacher and I would love to help with anything you need!” the teacher wrote, happily offering to buy Adalyn new clothes for an upcoming school show. “No child deserves to be bullied over an outfit and I hate that she’s experienced that.” Eventually, the outpouring was so overwhelming, the community asked Rambo to put together an Amazon wish list for Adalyn or share an address to which they could send items for the little girl who loves purple and rainbows. Rambo said she spent the whole afternoon in tears — happy ones. She went into the day feeling like an outcast, but was headed to bed with hope. “Words will never ever explain or express the amount of gratitude I have felt all day by reading some of the messages, even for the people that couldn't help,” she wrote in thanks at the end of the day. “Those words touched my heart and soul like no other.”
