Taylor Swift must be concealing a halo under those impossibly curly bangs and angel wings underneath her “Cardigan,” because not only has she gifted us more albums in 2020 than the government has stimulus checks, but she also swooped with $13,000 to help a Michigan mother in need, MLive reports.
Macomb County's Shelbie Selewski, a 29-year-old single mother of four, launched a GoFundMe after being profiled in The Washington Post as being one of millions of Americans who are going into the holidays unemployed and thousands of dollars behind in rent, utilities, and other bills.
In the article, published Monday, Selewski's financial crisis was outlined in tragic detail. She lost her job as a medical receptionist in the spring and was $2,100 behind on rent and bills with eviction notices piling up. Even before the pandemic, Selewski says her family lived paycheck to paycheck.
“I lost my job in the spring and have had to stay home with my young daughter who was born with a collapsed lung right before Covid (Dec) and was hospitalized for two months after at Children's,” Selewiski's GoFundMe page reads.
She told The Washington Post that she and her fiance have sold their TV and Playstation 4 to avoid shutoffs, borrowed cash from family and friends, but with her meager $200 a week in unemployment aid, it's not enough for Selewiski — and others like her — to keep up.
“It has been the worst year ever. I’ve watched everything I’ve worked for go away,” Selewski said. “Every time I paid something and felt some peace, it felt like I got a utility shut-off notice three days later.”
On Wednesday, Selewiski's GoFundMe got a star-studded donation from Swift, who had read about her family's struggle in The Washington Post.
“No one should have to feel the kind of stress that's been put on you,” Swift wrote in a maessage with the donation. “I hope you and your beautiful family have a great holiday season. Love, Taylor.”
Selewski's GoFundMe has raised more than $21,000.
“It was literally just going to bed every night and praying that something would happen and then it happened,” Selewski told NBC News. “It’s like something you read about happening to someone else and think they’re so lucky.”
The super sweet gesture is par for the course for the ever-generous Swift, who in April made an undisclosed donation to support every full-time staffer at Nashville's premier independent record store, Grimey's, which was forced to close during the pandemic. This week, she donated another whopping $13,000 to Nikki Cornwell, a Nashville mother who was also behind on rent and bills due to the pandemic.
Why $13,000? Well, any true Swiftie knows that 13 is the singer's lucky number.
Also on Thursday morning, Swift took to social media to do what she does best: surprise her fans with new music — and not just, like, a single, but a whole damn album. Following suit with her surprise release of her critically acclaimed indie-pop-steeped Folklore in July, Swift announced the release of Evermore, which will be released at midnight.
“Ever since I was 13, I’ve been excited about turning 31 because it’s my lucky number backwards, which is why I wanted to surprise you with this now,” Swift, who turns 31 on Dec. 13, wrote on Instagram. “You’ve all been so caring, supportive, and thoughtful on my birthdays and so this time I thought I would give you something! I also know this holiday season will be a lonely one for most of us and if there are any of you out there who turn to music to cope with missing loved ones the way I do, this is for you.”
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