If there is one thing that Christine Laye is sure of it is that her kids are her strength. Your will find the mother of 5 and grandmother of one working at Long John Silver's almost every day, but when shes not at work her kids are her life.
After an abusive relationship, Christine and her kids turned to the only people they knew they could, each other. Determined to do it on her own, Christine took as many jobs as she could to keep food on the table. When her daughter didn't have a coat, it was Christine that went without one and when Christine was walking to work because she couldn't afford a car, it was her kids that all pitched in to buy her one.
"All we have is each other," Christine said, "any time I can spend with my kids I do."
When the United Way of Fox Valley heard of her story they contacted AAA insurance who was able to give Christine and her family the Christmas they deserve.
"Without them, Christmas wouldn't have been much," Christine said."
See the full photo gallery and story in today's Beacon-News.
Steve Buyansky is the photo editor for the Sun-Times Media West Group which includes The Beacon-News, The Courier-News and the Naperville Sun. He started as a photographer for the Beacon-News in 1983, became photo editor for The Herald-News in Joliet in 2000 and moved to the Sun-Times Media West office in 2009. He has a bachelor’s degree in Communications from Columbia College in Chicago.
A native of the western suburbs, Brian Powers attended both the College of
DuPage and Western Kentucky University for Photography and is continuing his
education at the University of The Aurora Beacon News. His professors
continue to push him (See Marianne Mather), but he considers himself one of
the lucky few who loves going to work everyday....well, ok, most days.
Michael Smart has been a photographer at The Courier-News/Sun-Times Media for over ten years. Smart grew up in Elgin before heading West to pursue adventures in photography and zoology, earning a bachelor’s degree in both fields. Upon returning to Elgin, he decided to pursue his true passion of photojournalism.
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