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FLINT, Michigan -- With 10 kids and no vehicle, Latrica Ryan is used to juggling.
Going to a movie or out for dinner is a like plotting a major tactical undertaking. Not that such outings happen that much.
"It would really be nice if I could take my kids where they needed to go, instead of having to find them a ride," Ryan said. "And when we do go somewhere, I have to pay four or five people (for gas) to get us all there.
"I have booster seats and car seats. It's a lot."
Ryan, is a 29-year-old single stay-at-home mother of five sons and five daughters, who range in age from 2 months to 13 years.
Flint Journal extras Help for FACED
Faith Access to Community Economic Development is in need of donations. Listed below are a few of the items needed most:
• Baby items (clothes, diapers, wipes, formula, baby food, infant carriers, pack-N-plays)
• Personal hygiene items (soap, shampoo, tissue, towels, toothpaste, toothbrushes)
• Other (children's clothes, maternity clothes, bus passes, cash donations)
Items can be dropped of at FACED Corporation, 310 E. Third St., Suite 5, Flint.
Transportation isn't the only issue Ryan has to deal with.
The Flint woman said she sometimes needs help providing her children with clothes and food.
"As they get older, it's becoming harder and more expensive to buy them clothes," Ryan said. "I try to keep the older kids looking nice because I don't want them to be teased at school.
"And they don't starve," she said. "But there are times when I start running low on food and I have to call for help."
Ryan may not be able to take her kids on a fancy vacation, but with the help of organizations such as FACED Corporation, she is able to ensure that her kids' basic needs are met.
The Flint-based agency has helped Ryan clothe and feed her children, as well as pay utility bills.
"It started off with diapers and bus passes." Ryan said of her first encounter with FACED 10 years ago. "Now, Retinea (Dye, a maternal and infant health advocate at FACED) will give me a ride to doctors' appointments for my kids. She'll take me to their schools. She's always there when I need her."
FACED is a faith-based community outreach agency that focuses on assisting the low-income. Dye said the agency helps educate mothers on parenting and provides them with things such as maternity clothes, baby clothes, other baby items, counseling and support groups.
Dye said the agency has even helped pay security deposits for housing.
Tough times have brought more people into the agency in search of help.
"We're getting more calls for assistance with utility bills because the price of gas had gone up," Dye said. "We can only (help) so many people, so we're referring them to other agencies."
Dye said FACED has reached its limit of aiding 50 families. The agency is in need of donations to continue assisting families.
"In between (Women, Infant and Children) appointments, moms run out of formula, and they turn to us," Dye said. "Sometimes we have what they need and if we don't, we have to refer them to other agencies."
Even without a car, Ryan manages to stay involved in her children's school life, volunteering and meeting with teachers to check on their progress.
Most of Ryan's 10 children are in school and six are on the honor roll, she said.
Flint mother Latrica Ryan of 10 looks to community for help - The Flint Journal Online News - Michigan Newspaper - MLive.com (http://www.mlive.com/flintjournal/index.ssf/2008/11/flint_mother_latrica_ryan_of_1.html - broken link)
I could go off on so many tangents w/this but I'm positive I'd get an infraction for my effort. I'll just say this much, close her fricking legs, pump some birth control into her & quit your whining because it was HER choice to spit out 10 kids. And she expects help for her breeding??? I don't THINK so!!! I hate these people, seriously loathe them.
Makes me sick. Are these people living in the stone age, have they not heard of the population explosion? Oh whoa is me, I chose to have 10 kids & now look at us, no car, can barely buy food, clothes, etc...whatever shall I do? I KNOW! I'll beg others for services & products I should've been able to provide myself if I weren't such an idiot who doesn't know what birth control means.
I was reading the reader's comments and I believe some one stated that she is preggers with number 11.
You've heard of that creepy family the Duggar's, right? They've now got a special on I think Discovery Health....I belive they're on 18 now? And every single one of those kids is dressed like those polygamists. Moderator cut: Inappropriate
Last edited by gallowsCalibrator; 12-15-2008 at 07:32 AM..
It is stories like these that make me less likely to give to charities. My own sister would have loved to have had more then three children, and she would also have loved to been able to be a stay at home mom and volunteer at her kids school. She couldn't do either because she (along with her husband) work for a living.
I wish the reporter would have asked her how many baby daddys does her kids have and how does she find time to have sex with ten small children? I only have four and am married it is hard to find time
She's turning to the community for help? Sure, I'll help. I'll send her a nice box of condoms and birth control pills.
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