Community Raises $165,000 For Mom Who Left Kids Home Alone To Go To Work & Was Arrested For It
We could all use a little help.
WKBN 27 On Feb. 11, single mother Shaina Bell was arrested at her job, Little Caesars, for child endangerment.
Bell was accused of leaving her children alone in a hotel down the street from her job in Liberty Township, Ohio.
After spending one night in jail, she was released and in need of housing.
Bell’s mug shot was circulating around on various news sites for leaving her children, ages 10 and 2, unattended in the hotel they were living at while she went to work.
Responses her to actions were mixed. Some people were outraged at what she did, others were sympathetic, as she was doing what she felt she had to do.
While she is remorseful for leaving her children alone, she believes to have been acting in her children’s best interest because she needed to work to provide for them.
She states that her ten-year-old was comfortable staying with the toddler and Bell had arranged to have someone check on them every hour.
An anonymous tip was called in that the kids were alone. Some sources speculate that the father of the children called in the tip.
There were many negative views on what she did, those who sympathized with her situation wanted to reach out and help in any way they could.
On social media, many people are commenting on this story because it is an example of what some mothers in the workforce have to deal with. Arizona Congressman Rubin Gallego took to Twitter, writing, "Women are dammed if they do or damned if they don’t. Stay at home with your kids and receive government assistance and you are a leach, go to work for poverty wages and can’t get consistent sitters and go to jail."
Bell’s mother, Danielle Hosey, started a GoFundMe for her daughter.
Initially, the crowd-funded campaign was to raise $5,000 but an overflow of donations came in and Bell received over $165,000 in donations.
Her mother wrote on the GoFundMe page, “Shaina is a single mother of three young children. She works hard and she loves her family very much.”
Upon her release from jail, she was in need of emergency housing. The money was intended to help Bell find secure and safe housing for her children.
Her top donations came from Music label co-founder, Pierre “Pee” Thomas, donating $10,000 and a Cleveland Cavalier, Javale Mcgee, donating $5,000 dollars.
Pierre Thomas took to social media and sympathized with Bell’s situation.
He wrote on Instagram, “My mom used to have to do the same thing when we were young, not cause of abandonment issues, it’s because people can’t afford child care working at a pizza shop. She wasn’t hanging out at a club. She was at work.”
In an interview with WKBN First News 27, Bell says, “I never set blame on anybody for anything because at the end of the day nobody left my kids in the hotel but me.”
Having taken full responsibility for the situation, she wishes to move forward. Bell said that with the GoFundMe money she plans to buy a house for herself and her children