A mother of five children in Loudoun County, Virginia, was in dire need of help after the severe economic blow of losing her job in March.

"Then I found out I was pregnant with my fifth. I was like, 'Oh, my God, what are we gonna do?" Shamika Foster told 11Alive.

Her husband was the sole breadwinner and was able to pay the bills, but it left little for anything else. Foster logged into her Facebook group, The Real Ladies of Loudoun County, and saw a post that would turn out to be a godsend.

"Someone made a post and they were like, 'What [is] something that you wish you had that you can't afford right now or that you'd like to have right now?' So I was like, 'Just snacks, snacks for my kids.' Because for us, it can be overwhelming with trying to get the things that they want, we get the things they need. All of a sudden, my inbox just went crazy," Foster recalled.

Foster's online community came through in a big way, and within days she had a wide assortment of snacks on her doorstep.

"My favorite snack is Cheez-Its. I love Cheez-Its," Christianna Nano, Foster's daughter, told 11 Alive.

The community even had offers to buy coats for the children.

"It's been so, so wonderful and so overwhelming at the same time, like, I'm so grateful for this community. Because I'd never expected it to even go that far," she said.

Overwhelmed by the outpouring of her community's support for family, Foster decided to pay it forward.

"So I was like, 'Let me just go on and post and see if anybody will, like, want their hair braided or whatever.' And, lo and behold, I got a lot of responses. Gosh, probably over 100," Foster said.

"She braids my hair all the time … and I always ended up loving it. So I think a lot of people be happy about that, too," Christianna said.

"It gives you like, a purpose, almost like, you feel like you're able to do something for somebody else who may be going through the same thing," Foster added.

Shamika-Foster

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