She Told a Stranger Not to Be Ashamed to Ask for Help. Then Her Own Surprise Arrived<\/p>\n
Behind a garage door on San Antonio\u2019s Northeast Side, mothers find clothes, diapers, formula, baby supplies and something that cannot be placed in a donation bag: hope.<\/p>\n
Kristina Rhodes runs Glory Rhodes to Motherhood, a faith-based nonprofit she named after her daughter and operates from her home. She documents the work on Facebook, often going live as families come through the garage and share what the donations mean to them.<\/p>\n
Some of the mothers who once came to Kristina for support now return with donations of their own.<\/p>\n
Kristina says the mission is about more than giving away items. It is about reminding mothers they matter and making sure they do not feel ashamed when they need help.<\/p>\n
That mission comes from personal experience.<\/p>\n
Kristina says her family has gone through severe financial hardship, including a period when her three-year-old was undergoing chemotherapy. She says she once reached out for help and was not believed.<\/p>\n
\u201cI just need a little bit of help and I didn’t get it and I never forgot that,\u201d Kristina said.<\/p>\n
She opened her garage so other mothers would have somewhere to turn.<\/p>\n
But while Kristina was helping families across San Antonio, she was facing struggles of her own. Her car was gone, she was borrowing rides and she said she came close to losing the home where the ministry began.<\/p>\n
That is when Cash for Kindness<\/a> stepped in.<\/p>\n To surprise Kristina, a Fox SA producer called her pretending to be a mother who needed clothes and supplies for her baby. Natalie told Kristina she felt embarrassed asking for help.<\/p>\n Kristina immediately reassured her.<\/p>\n \u201cPlease don’t be embarrassed,\u201d she said. \u201cI started this because I asked for help and I didn’t get it.\u201d<\/p>\n Kristina believed Natalie was coming to pick up baby supplies.<\/p>\n Instead, Fox SA’s Ryan Wolf showed up and told her the community had reached out to recognize the work happening inside her garage.<\/p>\n Kristina was then presented with a $1,000 Cash for Kindness<\/a> prize from Fox SA and DJC Law<\/a>.<\/p>\n She said the money will be a major help because she needs a car.<\/p>\n But even in that emotional moment, Kristina was thinking about the families who depend on her.<\/p>\n \u201cBecause if I stop that, then tomorrow, 13 moms won’t get served,\u201d she said. \u201cI just did it because I didn’t want them to feel like I felt.\u201d<\/p>\n Cash for Kindness is brought to you by DJC Law<\/a>.<\/p>\n If you’d like to donate to Kristina’s gofundme to help fix her vehicle<\/a><\/p>\n