Mom of 6 Opens Home to 4 More Children

Monrovia (myFOXla.com) - A single mother with six children has opened her house to four kids who just lost their mom, prompting an outpouring of community support.

"The whole community has been so awesome," said Jackie Maruyama, 31, in a report by the Pasadena Star-News. "People have been dropping off clothes, food, diapers, wipes -- we have had more food than we've ever had in the house."

Maruyama's friend, Emily Taylor, 37, a parent of three, died in childbirth on July 21. Her children were left with no place and a father who was not around.

"Emily and I were really good friends and I helped her a lot with the kids," Maruyama told the Star-News. "I didn't think about the decision. My instinct was to take them in and make sure they were okay."

Both Maruyama's and Taylor's children go to Wild Rose Elementary School in Monrovia, where parents and the PTA organized a rummage sale on Saturday to raise money for the newly-enlarged Maruyama family and collect donations. Friends from Wild Rose -- which has about 455 students - also collected donations at the event.

"Monrovia is a little community that kind of treats everybody as a family, they don't allow people to fall through the cracks," Jim Coombs, assistant superintendent of the Monrovia Unified School District, told the Star- News. "When horrible things like this happen, people really step up to the plate."

Donations were being accepted at:

New Beginnings Family Church
2780 Peck Road
Monrovia.