It all started on a quiet morning after I sold my flower shop. For fifteen years I had worked early mornings and late nights, and letting the shop go felt emotional, but it finally gave me some savings and space to rebuild my life. I was sitting at my kitchen table when my sister Lisa called and asked, “Ivy… can I come over?”
She arrived looking exhausted and told me she and her husband Rick were about to lose their house. His construction business had collapsed, bills had piled up, and the bank was closing in. They had tried everything, she said, and were desperate. When I asked how much they needed, she answered, “Twenty-five thousand.”
