Mom struggling to make ends meet left ‘teary-eyed’ after $100 mailed to her by stranger

Chantel Greene is a single mom who works full-time managing the car wash and laundromat at Fisher River Cree Nation, a three-hour drive north of Winnipeg.

While inflation takes its toll on many households, so does the inherent goodness of some people.

Global News kicked off the new year with a six-week Out of Pocket series, looking at the toll cost of living increases are having across the country.

Chantel Greene is a single mom who works full-time managing the car wash and laundromat at Fisher River Cree Nation, a three-hour drive north of Winnipeg.

On that income she supports her father and her 12-year-old daughter Chantay, who has unique needs associated with autism.

Greene has a budget of $1,800. After a truck payment, car insurance, gas, and groceries ⁠— she’s in the hole $1,200 to $2,200 each month. That’s meant tough sacrifices to her own nutrition to ensure her dad, who is a renal cancer patient, and growing daughter are well-fed.

Not long after her story aired, she found an envelope in her post office box. It just had her name and general delivery to her First Nation. Inside was $100 — no note and no return address other than Athabasca, Alta.

“It makes me teary-eyed every time I think of it,” Greene said of the stranger’s unexpected gift.

“That blessing bought me gas, milk and cereal. It makes me think about a saying ‘be the change you want to see in the world’ — it only takes one person to make a difference.”