#Rally4Opal
Donation protected
Please join the Jamaican Canadian Association as we support and fundraise for Opal Austin, mother to Melonie and Dwayne Biddersingh. Opal sent her children to Canada for a better life with their father and step mother, never once imagining that she would never see them again. She took that leap of faith, because with 7 children to raise in a one bedroom shack galvanized by a zinc roof, her options were limited.
As Toronto Star columnist Royson James wrote in his article "Mother mourns her daughter’s ghastly death":
"Dirt-poor and desperate, all Opal Austin needed was a little help.
Faced with raising seven children on a street vendor’s income that couldn’t keep a Canadian kitten well fed, Austin did what any mother would: She sent two of her teenagers to live with their dad and step-mom.
The fact daddy lived in Toronto made the decision a no-brainer.
“I sent them up for something better, for a better life,” Austin told the Star. She was thinking, “Somebody must come out with something.”
Who could have imagined that Canadian authorities would soon be telling Austin, 57, that her son had jumped off a Parkdale apartment balcony at age 15; and that her daughter, Melonie, was soon to become the victim in a 1994 “suitcase murder” that police only now solved."
(Full article - http://www.thestar.com/news/crime/2012/04/01/mother_mourns_her_daughters_ghastly_death.html)
Opal continues to need assistance to support herself and her family. Since the father of her children and his wife were charged with murder, she has not been able to work and has been plagued with a variety of stress and anxiety induced health challenges. The funds raised in this campaign will assist Opal in getting the medical care she needs as well as helping her to take care of her family. No donation is too small and all are appreciated.
For more information on how else you can assist, please contact the Jamaican Canadian Association at http://www.jcaontario.org.
As Toronto Star columnist Royson James wrote in his article "Mother mourns her daughter’s ghastly death":
"Dirt-poor and desperate, all Opal Austin needed was a little help.
Faced with raising seven children on a street vendor’s income that couldn’t keep a Canadian kitten well fed, Austin did what any mother would: She sent two of her teenagers to live with their dad and step-mom.
The fact daddy lived in Toronto made the decision a no-brainer.
“I sent them up for something better, for a better life,” Austin told the Star. She was thinking, “Somebody must come out with something.”
Who could have imagined that Canadian authorities would soon be telling Austin, 57, that her son had jumped off a Parkdale apartment balcony at age 15; and that her daughter, Melonie, was soon to become the victim in a 1994 “suitcase murder” that police only now solved."
(Full article - http://www.thestar.com/news/crime/2012/04/01/mother_mourns_her_daughters_ghastly_death.html)
Opal continues to need assistance to support herself and her family. Since the father of her children and his wife were charged with murder, she has not been able to work and has been plagued with a variety of stress and anxiety induced health challenges. The funds raised in this campaign will assist Opal in getting the medical care she needs as well as helping her to take care of her family. No donation is too small and all are appreciated.
For more information on how else you can assist, please contact the Jamaican Canadian Association at http://www.jcaontario.org.
Organizer
Thejamaican Canadianassociation
Organizer
North York, ON
