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In the City of Good Neighbors: 'Hope Rises' in the midst of a dismal shutdown

Posted at 6:04 PM, Jan 17, 2019
and last updated 2019-01-17 23:23:18-05

DEPEW, N.Y. (WKBW — A site created to inspire love, positivity, and strength is living out its mission today.

Hope Rises News was born out of tragedy, specifically the October 1 Las Vegas Massacre in 2017, but today it’s giving life to the City of Good Neighbors.

A donor reached out to the founder, Kate Glaser, yesterday.

“He said, ‘You know, I set aside some money the past couple of weeks, and I want to pick one family to help through this financial strain.’”

It’s day 27 of the government shutdown and families all across Western New York are figuring out how to make ends meet until they see their next paycheck.

Glaser posted a request on her Facebook page for families to contact her if they might be able to use a financial gift from the donor.

“We put it up last night and we had a couple different families reach out and we ultimately let the donor decide who they wanted to give the money to.”

The donors selected the Mattiuzzo family to receive a gift. It’s in the form of a donation that is significant enough to cover their mortgage for the month.

“t’s very humbling, the last thing that we want to admit is that we need help,” said Heather Mattiuzzo.

“Call it pride or what have you, but we want to try and do it on our own.”

Her husband, Jordan, works for an agency within the Department of Homeland Security.

He’s been home, furloughed, with their 16-month-old son Grayson for the past 27 days.

“Furlough comes up every 4 months where it’s just the scare of it. This is my first time experiencing it where I’m missing work.”

Mattiuzzo says that in other hard times he’s been able to reach out to Western New York Heroes.

It’s a resource he wants to encourage other veterans to use in this shutdown and calls them “more than helpful”.

But…with his wife expecting their second child, even working daily, his missing income accounts for more than half of their household expenses.

Being able to receive this gift from these anonymous donors is something the family calls an answer to their prayers.

“I told her I was so humbled, it was such a blessing knowing there was this anonymous donor that wanted to bless us, and then in turn we hope one day to bless others,” said Heather.

The point of the site is for Western New Yorkers to reach out and help others, and that’s exactly what the Mattiuzzo’s plan to do once they’re on the other side of this shutdown.

For now, they’re taking things one day at a time, one bill at a time.

“We’re just going to take it one day at a time, hopefully this will be over soon, as far as looking that far down the line - it’s pretty dismal.”

If you’d like to help other families in the shutdown, contact Kate Glaser through her website, or facebook page.

Email Madison at madison.carter@wkbw.com, and keep up with her latest posts and stories on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.