Athletes, politicians, celebrities. All commonly referred to as heroes. And there’s nothing necessarily wrong with that. But then there are those heroes who stand up for the weak and vulnerable, working in silence, every day, without much attention. Martha McClure is one such hero. This image of the banged up daycare worker’s face is terrible to see, yet it is spreading by tens of thousands online. The reason? Those bruises were acquired when she did everything in her power to prevent a violent dad from kidnapping his three children from her in-house daycare center.
People all over the world are calling Martha McClure a heroine and I can only agree. On October 7, Martha was severely beaten when she stood up against a father, Francis Jackson, who arrived at her in-home daycare centre in Ronan, Montana, USA with the aim to kidnap his children.
The father arrived at Martha’s home smelling of alcohol and behaving aggressively. Martha was aware that the father had lost his rights with his children and was thus not allowed to retrieve them, according to kfor.com.
Quickly realizing the danger the aggressive father posed, Martha took him aside and suggested they speak outside her home. She locked the door behind her as they stepped outside.
An argument ensured between Francis and Martha, and he struck her violently. An unknown woman accompanying him then grabbed a shovel and struck the innocent daycare worker several times in the face. The pair fled the scene, but were later apprehended by the police. They are now awaiting trial.
Martha suffered several broken bones in her face as a result of the attack and had to undergo surgery.
She has “a long road of healing ahead of her,” according to the gofundme page that has been set up in her support.
Despite all this, the daycare worker says that she is just grateful that she managed to protect the children.
“They don’t know what all happened. We did the best we could to keep them safe and keep them innocent,” said Martha. “I don’t want (my home) to be a scary place where something scary happened. For most of these kids, my house is their second home.”
The incident soon spread widely via social media, where Martha has been hailed a heroine by millions.
“To me, it wasn’t heroic. To me, it’s what I’m supposed to do,” Martha told TODAY Parents.
“The children in my care — I am their person. I am their momma bear when their mother isn’t there. Did I know he was going to hurt me? Yes. Did I hope he wouldn’t? Sure. Would I do it over again? Definitely.”
Martha, who has five children of her own, aged 4-24, has worked with children for 20 years.
Donations have poured into Martha’s gofundme page, which was launched by a close family friend, by people in the local community and complete strangers alike.
“Thank you for taking care of the children you are responsible for as well as you do. Thank you for putting your life on the line to protect a child in your care. Thank you for letting working mothers everywhere feel ok with their choice to put their children into day care. You are a very special woman. You deserve an award, a medal, hell you deserve a million dollars. What you don’t deserve is to be beaten by a man whose children you take such amazing care of. People across the country are thinking about you – you are amazing!” one commenter, Heather Wink, wrote on the GoFundMe page.
So far, nearly US $40,000 has been collected to assist towards Martha’s recovery – all in just over two weeks. Martha is humbled and very grateful for the support.
“My job is not to warehouse children. My job is to take care of them,” says Martha. “Their mothers hand them off to me in the morning, expecting me to meet all of their needs just like they would if they were home with them. My job is to defend, protect, and guard their children with my own life — that’s how I feel about it.”
Like us if you think this brave daycare worker did the right thing when she protected these children. I think she deserves every like in the world!
