PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — At a young age, Sharita Jones experienced a tragedy with her family that made her understand the importance of sisterhood.
“We went to Florida for Christmas vacation. But then the night that we actually arrived from the airport, we didn't get time to actually open our gifts and celebrate Christmas. Our dad was murdered that night in front of us.”
Someone broke in and shot and killed her father.
He was the main caretaker of her and her nine sisters. Her older sister, Rita, stepped up to care for the family in his place.
“And the whole house has to go to school, and my sister [said] that we had to learn how to cook for each other, and pretty much we had to care for ourselves,” Jones recalled.
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Caring for each other — that same ethic runs through the group Philly Moms Helping Moms, which Jones created in 2015.
“It's a lot of crime going on, a lot of domestic violence — so, we're able to help other moms understand that they're not alone, and that you have other people that's dealing with the same things, that you have a place to run to,” she said. “So that's one thing I am proud of.”
The nonprofit is a sisterhood, uniting more than 37,000 mothers from all around the city — some who may be going through hard times and need help, and others who are in a position to offer that help.
“The resources are there, but a lot of people don't know that they're there. So, they're searching and searching,” Jones said. "So we provide all that for them."
The group helps connect women to resources they're not able to find, either because they don't have access to computers or they don't know who to call.
"With everything that's going on in our city — the gun violence, and everybody's just, like, not being able to afford rent, and different things like that — we come together to help each other.”
Jones says, as more moms come forward who are willing to help, the group has grown. So, when another mom has a need, the group is there — not just at Christmastime, but year round.
“I'm proud of the way we can actually connect other women with other women that's actually going through the same thing. They grow amongst each other. They gain friendship and leadership.”
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Jones said one mom even opened up a home for other moms, offering them a place to stay and helping them to manage their expenses.
“They pay their bills together. They eat together. They help each other … watch their children while they go to work or go to school, so that they can build enough funds so they can buy their own home.”
Jones won’t take credit for the success of the group, and she prefers to stay behind the scenes.
She has five kids of her own as well as a full-time job. She says, through helping others, she finds ways of healing from her own trauma.
“It feels good, because I'm not getting reminded of my childhood trauma. I'm getting reminded of how happy you can make someone be,” she said.
“You don't know that you're helping me while I'm helping you, but you're actually really helping me.”