After her mother’s death, a Bay Area mom was inspired to help families going through hard times.

Melissa Bolcar said she had no idea how many people would actually need her help.

“On Christmas Day, my mom passed away. She’d been fighting breast cancer for eight years and ever since then, I just didn’t know what my purpose was,” she said.

In her mother’s memory, Bolcar decided she wanted to help kids and families in need with clothing, food and more. So the Land O’Lakes woman wrote a simple Facebook post expressing her intentions to do exactly that.

“I thought maybe I would get a few people that needed some help,” said Bolcar.

But in just two months since the start of her community outreach group Pasco/Hernando Helping Children in Need, more than 50 people have offered to help and more than 1,000 have needed help.

“It was really overwhelming at first. Honestly I spent a lot of nights not going to bed until 4 AM, but now we have so many helpers,” said Bolcar.

“I’m really shocked,” said Danielle Bolcar, Melissa’s sister-in-law. “I wasn’t expecting so many people to get involved so quickly.”

Meghan Schmidt is another one of Bolcar’s main helpers. “Once we got into this, it was just – I mean they’re everywhere! So many children all need food and clothing,” Schmidt said.

There are now five hubs in five different locations that hold and disperse donations. Bolcar is still looking for more volunteers, but she found her purpose.

“I want to transform peoples’ hearts so they can help the next person,” said Bolcar.