Samantha Farraro

Samantha Farraro is studying biomedical sciences. She volunteers with MedLife serving the homeless, and will be traveling with them to Thailand to provide medical relief to impoverished areas next summer. In addition, she has teamed up with the Tampa Bay code enforcement to remedy code violations for the elderly and disabled, and volunteers at Tampa General Hospital in the emergency department. After college, she plans to attend medical school to become a family practitioner in her home town of Panama City, Florida.

November 28, 2016

Our Time of Greatest Need

For a long time I didn’t understand the finality of death. I remember telling my sisters that I wanted to see my mom. They explained that she was in a better place now, but I didn’t understand what that really meant. I thought she had gone away or was hiding from me.

During that difficult time—when your only anchor is your family—mine was being pulled apart by financial hardship. My mother didn’t have life insurance, which meant my dad, who was 73 at the time, ended up working more than 50 hours a week. And my sisters, who were in high school, had to find work to help put food on the table. We hardly saw each other, which made things even worse.