Being a recipient of our annual Angel Tree – Adopt a Family for the Holidays event and having a 2-year-old daughter in our Head Start – East Lake Center, Ms. Jasmine Mack was already in contact with our Family Advocate, Ms. Felicia Cash when she became pregnant and was expecting her 4th child in spring of 2020. Having already bought a new furnace, Ms. Mack was prepared, however, when January came, her new furnace broke and she was in need of a replacement soon so she could make sure her child was warm.
Then in February, Ms. Mack was brought another surprise: her child was born premature, a couple months early on February 12th – just before Coronavirus came to Detroit. This made fixing the furnace situation even more pressing. Without the furnace, it was decided that she would leave her baby at the hospital until she received one. However, unaware that Matrix has a program to help families in need of a furnace, Jasmine didn’t bring it up to her Family Advocate, Felicia Cash, until the first week of April.
“I didn’t know and I was talking to her (Matrix Family Advocate, Felicia Cash) about it and she was like ‘well send me over your information’… I emailed it to her and she was able to give them a call and set up a date to come out.”
That is when Ms. Cash gave her information over to Ken Brown, Director of the Matrix Center, where the Matrix Human Services Adult and Senior Programs are based. Mr. Brown has been working with Solutions for Energy Efficient Logistics (SEEL) – a Certified Minority Business Enterprise (MBE) for years to secure furnaces for families in need at no cost to them, for those who qualify.
Ken Brown – Director of The Matrix Center
After Ms. Mack mentioned the furnace situation to her Family Advocate Ms. Cash, the furnace arrived and was installed within one week at no cost on April 9th. This enabled her to bring her child home from the hospital as well.
“They ended up coming and installing the new one and taking the old one, and they hooked it up pretty good… It was so awesome I was so happy. I had a brand new baby and three other children.”
Congratulations to Ms. Jasmine Mack and her healthy baby boy!
