"Krone" readers help

Burn-out: Six children, a full-time job and a carer

At Christmas, wallets are often empty - as is the case for the P. family.

(Bild: bilderstoeckchen – stock.adobe.com)

Mrs. P.'s life is full of stumbling blocks. The mother of six grew up in a difficult situation herself, cared for her father-in-law and slipped into an overload depression - and now her housing benefit has also been cut. We want to help her and her family together.

Life is a backpack filled with memories and experiences that you want to unpack and look at again and again with joy and lightness. Listening to Mrs. P. talk about the past few years, her luggage is probably rather heavy. She left home at the age of 15 and had her first child at the age of 21: "The second came right after that, and then the father separated from me."

Brain tumor diagnosed during pregnancy
Then a moment of happiness: "Some time later, I met my second husband. I was immediately in love with her - then everything happened very quickly: moving in together, first child together." But during the pregnancy, her now ex-husband was diagnosed with a brain tumor.

What followed: half-sided paralysis, speech disorders and epileptic seizures. After the family moved into her ex-husband's parents' house, Mrs. P.'s father-in-law became in need of care: "Working was then impossible, with children, care and housework. At some point it became too much for my husband at the time and he started drinking."

In order to support the family, the trained accountant looked for work, took the tax assistant exam from home until she was employed in Villach. But the pressure of work and the problems at home increased: "It became too much for me, which I didn't want to admit. At first you don't realize that you have no more strength. Then came the first rehab for burnout."

Her husband's alcohol addiction then got worse and worse until Mrs. P. separated from him and moved out. "With four children, I was suddenly a single parent, the other two had already moved out." The next attempt at work followed: "I wanted to get out of tax consultancy because I knew that this would lead to another overload. I then found a job in a canteen kitchen, where I worked for two years. There I alternated between kitchen and administration." 

We want to help!

The "Krone" and the association"Krone" readers help support families from Carinthia and East Tyrol. You can find all cases here. Please note the following codes when making your donations:

• Support the P. family with the code word Wohnbeihilfe.
• So that the W. family has a wonderful Christmas: KW Strom.
• Brothers Liam (6) and Leandro (8) have lost their seriously ill mother, help mom with KW.
• Do you want to help Mrs. Brugger and her family? KW: Destiny.
• "Verein Krone-Leser helfen", IBAN: AT45 3900 0000 0591 9006

Donations that exceed the target or any donations received after a period of two months following publication of the article can also be used by the association for other aid campaigns.

Shock news: housing assistance canceled
After a move, the next problems arose: The youngest daughter couldn't find a place at school, the older daughter couldn't find an apprenticeship and the overload became ever greater - to the point of losing her job. Mrs. P. now lives with two children - the others have already moved out.

She wants to go back to work, but now the next shock news has come: her housing benefit has been cut! "I recently found out - I earn too much. Last year's income was taken into account. My 18-year-old daughter was still living with me then, and she was also earning, but she has since moved out." 

Ms P. explains that she has to cover all her costs in one month with 1,200 euros in unemployment benefit and alimony (230 euros for both children). "When you think about how expensive life has become, it quickly occurs to you that there won't be enough money at the end of the month."

 Help Mrs. P. to cover the costs incurred and to give her and her children a richly laid Christmas table.