Lisa Dailey has draped her door frames with twinkle-lighted garlands and perched a cloth angel atop her television to smile down on her family.

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Days ago, she hauled out a cardboard box of Christmas decorations to hang a festive wreath and other cherished mementoes around her tidy brick bungalow in Penn Hills.

But when it came to trimming the fragrant pine that lay, bagged in netting, on her living room floor, Ms. Dailey ran out of steam -- partly because she lacked a stand to hold the tree and mostly because she didn't know what she'd put under it.

"It's very rough right now,'' said Ms. Dailey, 41, as she helped 5-year-old Leona, the youngest of her three children, dress in lacy white socks and a pleated skirt for kindergarten. "But I'm determined not to let this take me under.''

It doesn't seem all that long ago, Ms. Dailey said, when she was earning more than $20 an hour as a vocational assistant who helped young men with autism find and flourish in jobs. Her family was bouncing back after a fire destroyed their rented home in Garfield.

Her husband, who received disability payments, could get Leona to and from school and watch their newborn grandson, Leontae. In her spare moments, Ms. Dailey was amassing credits toward a master's degree in elementary education.

Then her husband was arrested and sent to jail. Her older daughters, Jasamine, 15, and Casey, 13, responded by "acting up'' and missing school if she didn't make sure they got there and stayed there, she said.

Her efforts to ride herd on her daughters led to a boss deciding she had "too many personal issues'' and firing her in the summer. She yearns to find another job next year and complete her degree, but believes for now she must concentrate on restoring stability to her home.

"If I can't deal with what's here now, I won't be much use to a new employer,'' she said. "[Their] education is everything. Youth today blows off education like it's nothing but then they can't get a job because they can't do [the work]."

So she has counseled and steered her daughters to after-school programs, watched 1-year-old Leontae, driven a jitney cab and made plans for a home-based business. For much of that time, she's supported her brood on food stamps, a $323 unemployment check every two weeks and prayer.

"I'm not used to this. I'm used to working,'' she said, wiping away tears. "But something good will shine on this household. I get my strength from God, and my endurance and willingness to fight another day."

Still, with money tight and a red Ford that's "running raggedy," Ms. Dailey worries about providing jeans and clothes for her older daughters and toys for Leona and Leontae.

Her giggly grandson is still charmed by any toy "as long as he can bang it on the floor," Ms. Dailey said, bouncing the toddler on her lap. But Leona, a polite little girl with bead-trimmed braids, hopes Santa will bring a Little Mermaid talking vanity or a Barbie telephone.

Maybe you can help make a child's dream come true.

The Goodfellows Toy Fund helps provide a bright Christmas to thousands of children in struggling families. Goodfellows, working with the Marine Corps Toys for Tots program, will deliver thousands of toys to needy children this holiday season.

Contributions to Goodfellows are tax-deductible. Every donation is acknowledged in the newspaper. You can donate using the coupon below, or make a contribution online. Learn more about PG Charities.

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