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The Hallmark Channel could not have scripted this any better.
A Sayville mother and her two young children are about to have their Christmas saved, thanks to a social worker’s thoughtful Facebook post and the ensuing outpouring of compassion from the community.
Corrin Mase went to the Facebook group “Sayville Happenings & History” yesterday, seeking help for “a local family experiencing a very difficult time this Christmas.” She expected a smattering of replies offering help, but what she received within minutes was a flood of promises to help and a bevy of questions asking what the family needs.
“I had to turn off the comments on the original thread because I couldn’t keep up,” Mase, a lifelong West Sayville resident, told GreaterSayville.com. “I was seriously in tears. I was hoping a few people would say ‘I have some extra stuff. Come get it.'”
“The great thing is, it looks like we’re going to get this family taken care, as well as other families,” she added. “Multiple kids will benefit because of this family.”
Because so many people reached out after seeing her Facebook post, Mase said she was able to refer additional resources to the community outreach nonprofit Branches Long Island.
Mase explained that the mom’s fiancé, the children’s father, died six months ago in an accident, and that it’s becoming increasingly difficult for the woman to pay for childcare for her kids, a 3-year-old girl and a boy who is 6. It broke her heart to know the children had lost their father, and were now facing such tough times during the holiday season.
“The mother was working part-time in healthcare, but her fiancé was the primary support for the family,” said Mase, who has taken time off from her counseling work this year to decrease the chance of exposure to COVID-19 for her medically fragile daughter.
Dozens and dozens of people from the community replied to Mase’s 7:56 p.m. Facebook post with comments and private messages offering all sorts of gifts and support.
One responder promised a Kindle tablet for the children. Another is giving free music lessons to the 6-year-old. Free spa services were offered for the mom.
Many people offered gift cards and some offered to send money via the Venmo phone app. A former Sayville resident living in Virginia asked about sending gifts overnight by mail.
“Guys, I am flat out overwhelmed by the amount of messages I’m getting right now and I’m honestly in tears,” Mase wrote in the Facebook group about an hour after her original post. “I’ve lived here all of my life, as have my parents and my grandparents and so on, and I say to myself, there’s nowhere else I would ever want to live because I live among some of the best people in the world.”
Mase later told GreaterSayville that “they all just want to help, and they trust that the help will go to who needs it.”
Here’s Mase’s original post seeking help for the family:
Good evening everyone, my name is Corrin. I am one of your moderators for Sayville happenings. It has come to my attention that a local family is experiencing a very difficult time this Christmas. The family is a mother and her two children, ages (girl) 3 and (boy) 6. Unfortunately the holiday assistance that she thought she had secured did not come through and at this point it does not seem likely that it will. If anyone has new items they would like to donate for the two children, or their mother, I would be happy to pick them up local to the Sayville, Bayport, Ronkonkoma area. If you are able to help or drop off at my house in West Sayville, you can reply to this post or please feel free to p.m. me privately. Thank you everyone. And technically since I’m not running around on Christmas Eve, this isn’t the last minute yet it’s the minute before the last minute.
Corrin Mase on Facebook, Dec. 21, 2020, 7:56 p.m.
“If you believe in Christmas, part of it is helping it happen for other people,” Mase said later.
