Mom panhandles for son's tuition

celeb_2006 · September 14th, 2009, 03:21 PM

The Mommy Files : Mom panhandles for son's tuition

Moms will do anything for their children--even stand at freeway on-ramps to beg for money to pay for their children's school tuition. That's what one mother in Bellevue, Wash., is doing.
Shelle Curley's 17-year-old son, D.J. Strong, has the chance to do his senior year of high school at the prestigious Idyllwild Arts School in California. Strong is a talented dancer and received a $45,000 scholarship, but his recently laid-off, single mom was still thousands of dollars short. Tuition costs $53,000 a year.
D.J. Strong on the left.

Strong told Momlogic.com that she tried applying for jobs, selling candy, and washing cars as well as applying for loans. But she wasn't making money fast enough and since she's applying for high school tuition, not college, she wasn't able to secure a loan. Curley's daughter jokingly suggested that her mom beg, but Curley took the suggestion seriously. What else could she do?

Curley has been making about $45 an hour on some ramps but she says it gets competitive and homeless people often try to kick her off the most profitable spots. So far she has raised the first deposit of $1,433, as well as $511 for gas and lodging so she can drive down to the school for parent's weekend. The next payment is due November 1, but she hopes to find a job before then.
"At first, I tried to hide my face," Curley told Momlogic.com. "I was embarrassed. But then I thought of the sacrifice he [my son] has made in dance--the iced feet, the chiropractic visits, the ibuprofen, and I just held my head up high. He has worked so hard to get that scholarship. This is his senior year. This door is open now, but it might never be open again. They only take 15 new dancers a year. I have to do whatever I can do in my power to pay for this. I'm getting him there!"

Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/blogs/sfmoms/detail?entry_id=47529&tsp=1#ixzz0R6uEDhSC

DeChayz · September 14th, 2009, 03:37 PM

I have an idea - how about your son gets off his lazy ass and panhandles for himself? Or better yet, gets an effing job to contribute??

angelais · September 14th, 2009, 03:39 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DeChayz

I have an idea - how about your son gets off his lazy ass and panhandles for himself? Or better yet, gets an effing job to contribute??

EXACTLY!! I love my child, but you would never find me on a corner begging for money for his tuition. He would need to get a job to contribute. This lady is a moron.

Beeyotch · September 14th, 2009, 03:55 PM

This is crazy, it's $53k for a year of high school. I get that it's a prestigious arts school but that's still just nuts.

Penny Lane · September 14th, 2009, 04:30 PM

You don't see many hobos raking in hundreds of dollars a day... I don't know why she thinks she'll have better luck panhandling.

Pippin69 · September 14th, 2009, 06:12 PM

^ good point. Sounds more like a ploy for free money.

Douchebag son. He can get a job, or drop out even. That's life sometimes, you don't whore out your mom in tough times.

ETA: What did they identify the son in the photo? The other dancer is a girl.

MontanaMama · September 14th, 2009, 07:56 PM

From what I understand (working through the United Way) panhandling can be very lucrative. A lot of the people panhandling (and I'm going to get creamed for this) choose to live outside of society. Whether it's due to some level of mental illness, substance abuse or simply not wanting to be part of society. The town I live in has had an awful history with the homeless (putting them on buses to other cities), so there's been a lot of information, interviews, and action committees. Families with children are generally different and in this economy there's a lot more diversity in the homeless population, but many of the panhandlers choose to live that way.

I think the mother is to be totally commended. Her child has an amazing opportunity and she's doing whatever she can to make that happen for him. There's nothing in the article that says he isn't also working, but he is a high school student and apparently a gifted dancer.

Pippen, you think the boy should drop out of high school? Why?

Pippin69 · September 14th, 2009, 08:15 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MontanaMama

Pippen, you think the boy should drop out of high school? Why?

I don't mean to drop out of high school all together, but if someone can't afford the private school, they can't afford it. I know it would be heartbreaking, but I would never encourage someone to put themselves into the dangers of panhandling just so someone can go to a specific school. How would he feel if his mom got hurt? Raped? Who would finish raising him if she got killed? How would he pay the medical pays if she's hurt? Support himself if she's killed? She's panhandling with addicts and pimps fighting for the same money, it is dangerous. He needs his mother in his life more then he needs to go to a specific school. Not all successful dancers come from that school, they are other ways to make it without his mother having to risk her life. And what if next year he suffers an injury where he can no longer dance? What if the school fails him in launching his career? Not ever student will make it out a Broadway star. Then what happens?

I would refuse to support my mother/sister/daughter etc doing that for me. There are safer ways to raise money.

maryk · September 14th, 2009, 09:07 PM

I don't trust panhandlers I always think it's a lie. My step aunt took me and my sister with her panhandling one day she said we were her kids. I never told my mom for like 15 years afterwards. My mom hadn't spoken to her in years and called her to chew her out we could have been killed! Now everytime I see panhandlers I think whatever they say is probably a lie.

Penny Lane · September 14th, 2009, 09:21 PM

A group of men always panhandles at a stop light I ALWAYS get caught at here in Austin... I actually don't even know what they're panhandling for.. they have plastic cups and small squares of paper and I think it's for battered women (if they are to be believed) and I always telepathically will the light to change (it never does) before they get to my window. I usually have to give them a quarter or something so they can fuck off and they always tell me "God bless you, sister"

I gave a woman a dollar a few weeks ago and now she all but crawls up onto the roof of my car whenever I see her. Serves me right, I guess.

MontanaMama · September 14th, 2009, 11:04 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Pippin69

I don't mean to drop out of high school all together, but if someone can't afford the private school, they can't afford it. I know it would be heartbreaking, but I would never encourage someone to put themselves into the dangers of panhandling just so someone can go to a specific school. How would he feel if his mom got hurt? Raped? Who would finish raising him if she got killed? How would he pay the medical pays if she's hurt? Support himself if she's killed? She's panhandling with addicts and pimps fighting for the same money, it is dangerous. He needs his mother in his life more then he needs to go to a specific school. Not all successful dancers come from that school, they are other ways to make it without his mother having to risk her life. And what if next year he suffers an injury where he can no longer dance? What if the school fails him in launching his career? Not ever student will make it out a Broadway star. Then what happens?

I would refuse to support my mother/sister/daughter etc doing that for me. There are safer ways to raise money.

Ok, but now you're flipping your own script. You're making the child responsible for his parent's decision. You called him a douchebag in your prior post, why so angry at the child for wanting to maximize his talents, with the support of his mother? It's her choice to try this tactic. Do you think that her son is making her go out there on the highway?

olivia · September 15th, 2009, 02:14 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MontanaMama

I think the mother is to be totally commended. Her child has an amazing opportunity and she's doing whatever she can to make that happen for him. There's nothing in the article that says he isn't also working, but he is a high school student and apparently a gifted dancer.

Totally agree. Her actions are admirable. While Ma Duggar is voted Best Mom because she keeps spitting out babies, and forcing older kids to raise them, this mom is criticized for supporting the talents of her child, his individuality and desires, in every way she can.

She's not supporting her brood with a reality show (a gift from god!) or forcing us to handle it with our taxes. I hope she makes it!

Shinola · September 15th, 2009, 02:26 PM

I can understand a parent wanting to support a child in this way. Plus, if he's already in the school, I think figuring out a way to keep him there would be plan A. It's just one year, and graduating from this high school might help him to win a full scholarship to a college or university, meaning saving money down the line.

As far as trusting panhandlers goes, I don't see the point in getting concerned about it. I do give money to them, to the extent I do or don't feel moved to, and I don't think it's any of my business what brought them to beg and what they're going to do with the money. "There but for grace go I" and all that.

crumpet · September 15th, 2009, 02:45 PM

Funny, all the panhandlers I see are either 1)disabled veterans or 2) just trying to get cab money to get back home across town, lol.