THREE Munruben brothers are struggling to make ends meet after both their parents died in less than a month.
Mother Karen Stagg, 48, died after battling serious health issues just before her husband Adam Smith passed away unexpectedly.
The eldest brother, Jacob Smith, 22, was forced to quit his high paying fly-in-fly-out job to support his brothers Riley and Kane as their legal guardian and provide a roof over their heads.
Mr Smith is now on a lower income and is struggling to juggle the responsibilities of paying off a mortgage, food bills, education costs and general living expenses.
Read more: Charli fights for quality of life
Read more: Compassion for grieving parents
Family relative Jessica Douglas launched a GoFundMe Page campaign on November 4 to help the family deal with the significant financial burden.
More than $6300 was raised eight days into the campaign with a fundraising target of $10,000.
Ms Douglas said the youngest brother, Kane was still in high school and needed financial support to help him on his path toward becoming an electrician after school.
“The main priority is making sure he gets all the opportunities that he can get and to have all the resources to finish school,” she said.
Kane recently won an academic subject award for Industrial Technology.
Jacob Smith said the outpouring of generous community support was appreciated.
“My brothers and I are so thankful and humbled to have received so much support during this time,” he said.
“Giving Kane and Riley a loving home and making sure Kane has all the resources he needs to complete his schooling is my top priority. Every donation makes it easier for me to achieve that goal.”
The family thanked Rankin MP Jim Chalmers’ office for putting them in touch with a Centrelink social worker to discuss their situation.
