Christina Knaack: The mum who paid a year's rent with her tax cheque, and one of her daughters. Photo / Sourced via Facebook @ ChristinaKnaack
Christina Knaack: The mum who paid a year's rent with her tax cheque, and one of her daughters. Photo / Sourced via Facebook @ ChristinaKnaack
When Christina Knaack shared with family and friends on Facebook what she'd done with her AUS$7000 (NZ$7501) tax return, she wasn't expecting the world to go nuts.
The single mum from Gaffney, South Carolina, has received a tax cheque for US$5400 (NZ $7501) - quite a sum for a young mum raising two kids and getting by on the minimum wage.
But instead of opting for a spending spree she splurged on securing the roof over their heads, paying her rent for the year, reports News.com.au.
And then quite proud of the move, she posted it on Facebook.
"Instead of buying my kids the latest Jordans or fancy electronics, I paid my rent for the YEAR," she wrote.
"I'm a single mom and I do it all by myself on a minimum wage job. I know that a roof over my kids' head is what's important.
"My kids don't want for anything because my priorities are straight. And this also means I will have that extra US$450 (NZ$625) a month to do things with my kids."
The post has been shared more than 117,000 times since she posted it, and the reception has been largely supportive.
By the time the media contacted her about the story, a few haters had come out of the woodwork, revealing her as a recovering addict.
She took that in her stride as well, proudly declaring herself "three years clean".
"So I just woke up to some of the most hateful comments and some very inspiring comments and people I don't even know defending me," she wrote.
The post which started all the fuss. Photo / Sourced via Facebook @ChristinaKnaack
"I never expected to go viral. And as of January 3rd I celebrated 3 years clean. I didn't share this for attention from the world. I just shared my accomplishments with people I know.
"I made it public so if anyone shared it others could see it in hopes a recovering addict would see it and see that life off the streets is possible and for any single moms to know it is possible to survive on ur own. As long as my post has inspired people I'm happy with that."
Overwhelmed by hundreds of messages from those relating to her post, and offers of support and help, Christina posted that she was working her way through them and would get to those who took the time to write to her later ..... but now she was off to work.
Amid the wave of support have been offers to "send my daughters things".
