Once homeless, a Texas mother has become a hero for the children in her community by opening a center dedicated to providing them with food to eat and a loving place to rest their heads.
On Tuesday, the hosts of “The View” decided to pay it forward — by giving back.
Letitia Conliffe wiped away tears as hosts Whoopi Goldberg and Sara Haines surprised her with a number of gifts for the community safe haven she calls “The Lil 4’s Club” of Sulphur Springs. Among the gifts was a stocked pantry to last into the holidays, brand new kitchen appliances and a $70,000 check.
Taking on the role of a mother, counselor and caretaker, Conliffe created the club to meet kids’ most basic needs. She told “The View” that the children who benefit from the center face everything from child and drug abuse to teenage pregnancy.
“Sometimes they don’t have water [or] food,” she said. ” … I just want to give them a chance in life and let them know whatever you go through, let Ms. Letitia go through [it] with you.”
Conliffe manages to feed between 30 and 50 children each day and has emptied her own pockets trying to provide for the neighborhood kids, ABC reported. That has not deterred her efforts, however, because she said she know what it feels like to struggle growing up.
The mother-of-three spoke of the strained relationship she had with her own mother, who she said “could never tell me she loved me.” The then-teen said she ran away from home and started skipping school and dabbling in drugs.
“I was told I wasn’t going to be anybody,” Conliffe said of her mother. “I wasn’t going to amount to nothing, so that made me lash out. I always thought I wouldn’t amount up to anything.”
Her situation only worsened from there and Conliffe said she soon found herself pregnant. Homeless, she was forced to raise her young daughter on the streets. After losing a friend to drug addiction, however, the young mother said she knew it was time for her to make a change. So, she decided to open a daycare and after school center for the children in her community.
“I started this because there’s so many people out there,” she said. “So many kids that seek … love that they don’t get at home.”
See more of the heartwarming surprise above.
