I was watching the news magazine show, 20/20, over the weekend and one story literally brought tears to my eyes. It was about homeless beauty queen, Blair Griffith. I initially thought, “here’s another pageant girl looking to score sympathy votes.” Having competed in pageants both in the USA and my native country, Jamaica, I’ve come across so many different girls who would do everything in their power to win that crown.
After watching the interview, I had a much different feeling. It turns out that under no fault of her own, Blair and her mom were evicted from their home in Colorado. Even though they have not been living on the streets, they still have no place to call their own. The part that really made me tear up is when the reporter reveled that her dad, who happened to be her biggest pageant supporter, had passed away from cancer. Also, her mom had had a heart attack. Both occurrences led to high medical bills, which ultimately caused their financial struggles. Once evicted, Blair did not make this information public. The cat was let of the bag when someone offered to conduct an interview at her home.
The obvious happy ending is that she received a lot of help from various sponsors and she will be competing for the Miss USA crown on Father’s Day. Unfortunately, her dad won’t physically be there to support her. But, I’m sure he will be there in spirit.