The Mother Teresa of Today

My Grandma Beatrice Hage was born in 1929.  Her mother died due to blood loss during a kidney surgery forcing her to take care of and raise her 5 brothers and sisters.  She got married to my Grandpa Phillip Hage in 1953.   They had 7 kids, so needless to say their lives were very busy.  My Grandpa had to work 3 jobs to ensure all of the family was provided for and my Grandma was a stay at home mom until she was forced to go to work to help provide for the family; rarely seeing the love of her life.  Grandma worked for the IRS for 19 years; retiring in 1995, allowing her to spend more time at home with her husband and family.  My Grandpa was diagnosed with cancer in '83 which he was able to fight for 10 strong years before passing in '93.  My Grandma was forced to try and keep the peace in a family that keeps on growing; currently 7 kids with their own families, 25 grandkids with kids of their own and 10 great grandkids.  My Grandma is a very strong woman that has always put her family first and in a family of approximately 50+ it doesn't leave much for her. 

My name is Alesha; I am a Granddaughter that wants to give back a dream to her Grandma.  I am currently 27 and I am married with 1 kid.  I serviced as active duty in the Air Force for almost 7 years and my husband has served for 15 years.  We have been married for 6.5 years, for the first 1.5 years were separated because of the military and have never had a honeymoon, but my Grandmother comes first in my life because she always put me first.  My Mother was a single parent with 3 kids that luckily had a caring and loving mother that could help watch over us.  While my Mother was working a full time job to provide for her kids and going to school to finish her degree so she could provide more for us; my Grandma took care of us every day. 

I became very close with my Grandma as she taught me the ways of life.  She taught me to sew, garden, cook, clean, but most of all how to put others first and who God is.  She told me that everything in life happens for a reason, even if we don't know why at the time.  She said good or bad, if you pray to God and ask him for forgiveness and guidance that one way or another he will show you the way.  I have had some rough times growing up and intense challenges along the way to who I am today, but no matter how good or bad she stood beside me and supported me; even when I thought I didn't deserve it.  By believing and praying I always found my way and figured things out.  It was like God knew that I would have a rough childhood and he placed me in the presents of one of his precious guardian angles to show me the way and watch over me.

My Grandma is not only actively involved with taking care of our family, but she is active in the community and church.  Every Monday for the last 20 years she have volunteered her time to South Austin Regional Clinic, other misc clinics, and for 10 of these 20 years she also volunteer South Austin Senior Activity Center.  Grandma constantly is making food to take to Safe Place, donating to food banks, meals on wheels, and every winter volunteers at the church to take in the homeless from the cold weather while making food and making them feel welcome.  Grandma is very active in the church, she has been a part of the St. Ignatius on Oltorf for 50+ years, by being a part of the Catholic Daughters, Ladies Club, volunteering to beautify the church (cleaning & gardening), performing communion ministry to all in the church and those that are unable to leave there homes, performing readings for Sunday and daily services, actively involved in the fall festival (donating time, arts and crafts, selling meal tickets and baking dozens of cookies and cupcakes) and any misc task the Priest may need assistance with.  She is an advocate of ensuring Gods mission is carried out, but not by pushing her beliefs on everyone or judging them, but by performing selfless acts of kindness for the world and taking care of Gods people.  She has also adopted several kids in Africa with little money she has left after she pays her bills, provides for her family and gives to the church.  She is in my eyes the Mother Teresa of today. 

My Grandma is young at heart taking care of the elderly everyday by adopting those that are unable to leave there homes or drive.  My Grandma took care of my Grandpa's Aunt until she passed by taking her to the grocery store, out to lunch and keeping her company every Friday.

I remember when I was younger I was always sick on Fridays so I could go hang out with my Grandma and help take care of my Great Great Aunt.  My Grandma taught me how to put others first!!!

Grandma has also been taking care of her sister since her brother in law passed away in ’01.  My Great Aunt always had her husband around to drive her anywhere she needed to go so she never got her license or drove anywhere.  Now that my Great Uncle is no longer with us my Grandma has taken over the task of taking care and loving her because everyone needs someone in their life.   My Grandma loves her sister very much and always makes her feel like home in her own family.  We all love my Great Aunt and have followed my Grandma’s lead of taking her to the stores, church, and picking her up for every family gathering. 

My Grandma is my greatest influence in the world and she is whom I aspire to be.  My Grandma has even adopted several of the elderly that she takes communion too, by driving them to doctor’s appointments, taking them to the grocery store, to church, picking things up for them on her way over and baking for them.

My Grandma is God’s gift to all of us and I want to give her a dream of hers before she is not able to enjoy it.  She gets older everyday and she still manages to do everything I have mentioned.  It is time to give her a dream of having a kitchen and house or her dreams.  My Grandma is a simple person whom only needs simple things, but her house is 50+ years old and needs some upgrades.  Her kitchen is falling apart; we have painted her cabinets at least 5 times, but they now the wood is rotting because of their age and need to be replaced.  My Grandma’s kitchen is one of the ways that she provides for everyone in the world and it has been her dream to have a bigger and up to code kitchen so she can keep ministering to the world.  My Grandma’s house has also manages to be flooded 3 to 4 inches of water a couple of times and will require some water damage repair.  She has had vinyl and linoleum tile in her house that have been worn and torn and missing in some areas, making it very difficult to keep the floors clean.  She has always wanted an arts and crafts corner for her sewing machine and misc crafts to go.  She has her sewing machine on the dining room take because she doesn’t have room or the money to invest into a sewing desk or art corner.  Grandma has a shed that my Grandfather used when he was with us that she wants to turn into a green house.  She doesn’t want to tear it down, but she has always wanted a green house for her plants because she loses some every winter.  She wants to keep the world beautiful one flower at a time, but the needs the right environment.  Her garage door has been broken for several years so she has not been able to park her car in it.  She has selves in her garage that needs to be repaired so she can use them for storage space.  She has a small leak in the roof that will need to be repaired and every ceiling needs to be re-popped corned and painted.  Grandma has never had much color in the inside or outside of her house and the family thinks some color would brighten her day.  So all in all, the house doesn’t need much just getting it up to proper living conditions, paint, flooring and a new kitchen, but these days things cost so much to do. 

So I am asking you to help me make the most wonderful women in my life’s, if you ever met her she would be the most wonderful women in your life too, dream come true.  The upgrade to the house is estimated around $50,000 to $60,000 and if we all pull together we can do it.  I owe my life to her and so I am willing to pay for the rest of my life for this dream of hers to come true, but I am asking for your help first.

She has an old vintage 1908 Victory Chicago piano made by Bush and Land that needs some tuning and minor repairs.  After restoration this piano could be worth thousands of dollars, but she is willing to part with it for this dream to come true.  The piano will be given to the highest donator of a minimum of $1000.   Please help me give back to someone who deserves to be given back to!!!  P.S. don’t tell her we are doing this fundraiser…we want it to be a surprise.