All Jennifer Cambra wanted for Christmas was a home for her family, enough gas to drive her ailing mother to the doctor and a sense of security for her 10-year-old twins.

A series of unfortunate and unforeseeable events had transpired rendering the family of four — Cambra, her elderly mother Carol Stuart and twins Kenedi and Titan — homeless and penniless.

“Everything just sort of collapsed on me,” Cambra said.

Individuals like Cambra will be amongst those counted during South Whidbey’s annual homeless point-in-time count. The nationwide event takes place on one day each January and is an effort to take a count of the number of individuals who are without permanent shelter within each community. South Whidbey’s count will take place on Jan. 29. Specific duties will be delegated to volunteers in order to attempt to get the most accurate count possible. Some will ride the bus, asking riders to fill out a voluntary survey. Others will go to known campsites or gathering places while some will be stationed at Bayview Hall from 1-6 p.m., offering free meals, back rubs, clothing, hair cuts and other services.

The count’s primary purpose is to get an idea of just how many people are homeless, but it’s also a chance to learn more about why people are struggling, people like Cambra and her family.

In their case, they are fairly new residents hit with a series of problems that left them living in a leaky trailer. According to aid organizations like the Suitcase Clinic, “Homelessness is a temporary condition that people fall into when they cannot afford to pay for a place to live, or when their current home is unsafe or unstable.”

Cambra had purchased a fifth wheeler with what little money she had left upon arriving on South Whidbey.

But the relief to have “kind of a home” of their own was short-lived. Heavy rainfall caused the mobile home to leak “like no other” during the night, rendering it uninhabitable and severely water damaged.

“We were scared,” said Cambra as she tearfully recalled her attempts to remedy the situation. “We couldn’t even sleep on a corner of the bed, the blankets were so soaked,” said Cambra as she wiped tears from her eyes.

Cambra and the family sought shelter in a friend’s trailer until the Readiness to Learn Foundation helped them move, temporarily, into the motel for the holidays.

“I can’t express how much of a desperate situation we’re in right now,” said Cambra, during a Christmas interview. “We’re pretty much in a crisis.”

The fifth wheeler was permanently damaged, Cambra said. The floors have holes, the walls are water damaged and mold-ridden. The floors are unstable and rotting.

“I’m more stressed about my kids and my mom than I am myself,” said Cambra.

Cambra first spoke with Gail LaVassar, executive director of the Readiness to Learn Foundation, when LaVassar called to schedule an appointment for Titan and Kenedi to come by the Holiday House for Christmas gifts.

The foundation gathered enough donations for the family to stay at the Harbor Inn from Dec. 21 to just after New Year’s Day after Cambra informed LaVassar of the situation.

The Holiday House, a shop designed to ensure families with limited or no income are able to provide gifts to their children and teens during the holidays despite lack of funds, had provided the children with presents and a small, cheerily decorated Christmas tree.

The twins expressed their gratitude, both for the gifts and for the safety of their temporary living space.

“Even though I don’t really care about toys,” Kenedi added. “All I really wanted for Christmas was our whole family to be here.”

Readiness to Learn Foundation and the bishop of the Mormon church had donated food, blankets and other necessities for which Cambra expressed many thanks.

Three weeks after meeting with The Record on Christmas Eve, Cambra and her mother were back in the trailer due to a lack of funding to remain in the motel. Cambra had sent her children back to Alaska to stay with a relative.

Cambra’s twins had moved to the island from Anchorage, Alaska, to stay with their mother, who moved to Washington seven months ago. Prior to her move, Cambra had worked as a manager at Fred Meyer and Chevron in Anchorage. Having held a job since the age of 14, Cambra hasn’t been unemployed until the past six months, when circumstances such as her mother’s ailments and a downtrodden economy made finding work extremely difficult.

“We haven’t always been in a bad way,” said Cambra.

Stuart’s doctors had suggested she transfer from Alaska to Washington for laparoscopic surgery due to a hiatal hernia.

Stuart, who also suffers from dementia and Alzheimer’s, was awaiting surgery at an island care facility when she developed pneumonia. Her original surgery was further postponed due to a complication. She relies on blood thinners and an oxygen tank, and requires regular physical therapy and check-ins at University of Washington Medical Center.

Once Stuart had received her originally planned surgery, the care facility would not re-admit her due to her inability to meet the required stipulations, most of which were financial. Stuart’s social security benefits are currently on hold due to her move.

“She’s got about 30 prescriptions that she’s taking,” said Cambra, explaining that most of them require a co-pay which she can’t afford.

Stuart is one of a growing population of older homeless adults. The National Alliance to End Homelessness estimates that, due to the growing population of elderly Americans overall, the rate of older homeless adults will increase 33 percent by the year 2020.

As of 2008, there were an estimated 43,450 sheltered homeless individuals over the age of 62, according to the Department of Housing and Urban Development’s report to congress.

According to the Department of Housing and Urban Development’s 2014 Annual Homeless Assessment Report, 216,261 homeless people in families — or 37 percent of the homeless population — were counted during last year’s annual point-in-time count. The National Alliance to End Homelessness claims the number is an underrepresentation, estimating the actual number to be about 220,000.

“I’ve helped many, many people in my life and this is the first time I’ve reached out and said, ‘You know what, I need help. I can’t do this by myself,’ ” Cambra said. “I couldn’t care less about my needs. What I care about is my mom and my kids.”

Readiness to Learn Foundation accepts tax-deductible donations for those in need of housing assistance at P.O. Box 280, Langley. Write “housing help” on the check memo to designate the funds.

To volunteer for the South Whidbey point-in-time count, contact the Good Cheer Food Bank main line at 360-221-6494, Island County Housing Resource Coordinator Joanne Pelant at 360-678-7962 or the South Whidbey Homeless Coalition at 360-221-5970.