The grandmother received hate messages and negative comments after she posted the earnest plea for some company on Christmas.
For some, the holiday season can be a cruel reminder of the loneliness when they don't have any family to spend Christmas day with. One elderly woman tried her best to find a family that she could spend the holidays with, but rather than help, what she received was only more hate.
The woman named Carrie from Oklahoma put up a post on Craigslist, accompanied with her humble plea. "Anybody need a grandma for Christmas?" was the title of her post, according to Fox 8.
Carrie, desperately hoping that someone would pay heed to her post also added, "I have nobody and would really like to be part of a family. I cook and I can cook dinner. I'll even bring food & gifts for the kids! I HAVE NOBODY AND IT REALLY HURTS! Let me be part of your family."
While Carrie made an earnest plea, many of those who saw the post used the opportunity to send her hateful messages rather than show a bit of kindness. And the post was later deleted.
Among the people who saw the ad was Carson Carlock. "That really broke my heart reading that because my mom was alone on her last Christmas," Carson said, whose mother, Gail was diagnosed with stage four cancer.
"She went to church a lot. She loved her grandkids," Carson said. After Gail fell ill, Carson wasn't able to drive up to her and still remembers the heartbreaking conversation he had with her. Carson recalled, "It was really not a good feeling just knowing, hearing her on the phone, and she’s like 'I'm all alone.'"
He put up a post of his own, hoping to find the woman as well as a family willing to give her the Christmas she deserves. His post was shared by about two-thousand people and many defended Carrie and offered their home.
After his mother died last year, seeing the ad on Craigslist reminded Carson of her and he was compelled to do something. "She would want me to be the kind of person to do this for other people," he said.
"A lot of people started sending her hateful messages," Carson went on to say. "I understand that everybody can be wary about it because there’s a lot of bad things happening in the world right now."
Carrie was accused to have ulterior motives, receiving a lot of hateful messages and negative comments on her ad. Before deleting the post, she thanked people for the "extra shot of pain."
But Carson couldn't bear to stand by and do nothing. "I don’t want anyone else to feel that way," he said. "I just want you to know that you aren’t alone. If you find yourself wanting to be a part of a family on Christmas, just reach out."
When Carson managed to get in touch with her through email, she said she was afraid to reach out because of all the hate her post received.
Carson later posted an update on Facebook and said, "I just received an email from Grandma Carrie and she wishes to remain private because Of personal family things and does not want to risk losing her grand daughter forever... She said she her daughter had taken her grand daughter away last month. I’m going to post only a little part of the email so I don’t potentially reveal her identity and possibly keep her from being able to see her grand daughter in the future. So, Grandma Carrie is okay, let’s please respect her wish to remain unknown."
He shared parts of her email so that the thousands of people whose heart went out to Carrie would have an update.
Carson also posted another update from Carrie in his comment section, showing that Carrie might not have a quiet Christmas day after all.
