Good NewsNeighbours rally to support 7-year-old after she loses her mom
Phoenix and Frankie were more than just family, they were best friends. They shared a Gilmore girls-esque relationship, doing practically everything together.
But due to unfortunate circumstances, seven-year-old Frankie is now on her own after her mother, Phoenix, suddenly passed away at a farmhouse in B.C., reports Saanich News.
“They were best friends,” landlord Shawn McLaughlin, who had been renting a one-bedroom suite to the single mom, told the news outlet. “They felt like family to me. I miss having them around.”
On the day of her death, a neighbour names Marianne Spalteholz was passing by the house to milk the cows. That’s when she heard Frankie’s unsettled cries from the house.
“It’s such an unfortunate thing,” said Souza. “Frankie was always outside playing; we saw her a lot.”
The community had really taken to Phoenix and Frankie, and it didn’t take long for locals to show their support.
Just a few days after Phoenix had passed – due to what appeared to be asthma complications – McLaughlin and his neighbours set up a GoFundMe page to help provide Frankie, who’s now living with her grandparents, with financial support in the future.
“Frankie’s only seven years old and she needs [your] help,” said McLaughlin.
“Last year Phoenix and Frankie moved to our area,” one of the neighbours, Joca Souza, wrote. “It didn’t take long for them to win our hearts.
On the crowd-funding page, Phoenix is described as “a cheerful soul with a great contagious laugh.”
“Phoenix was always teaching Frankie, showing her yoga moves, and doing all of the things a mom should do,” said McLaughlin. “She was working part-time and was trying to find work in her new field.”
Just before her 34th birthday the previous month, Phoenix completed her addictions and community service work diploma from CDI College.
McLaughlin now hopes that the money raised through the GoFundMe campaign can help create a college fund for Frankie.
“I’ve never had kids. When Frankie moved in, I bought a trampoline, a swimming pool and a swing set for her,” McLaughlin.
So far they are almost half way to their $10,000 goal, with more than $4,200 donated.
