ROGERS PARK — Shannon Sankstone is a mother of two girls, a science teacher and a Grateful Dead mega-fan — but most of all she's a believer in "miracles."
She's looking to raffle off a pair of July 3 Grateful Dead Fare Thee Well Tour tickets at Soldier Field in exchange for $68,000 so she can stay home with her infant foster daughter.
The amount is what she says is equal to one year's salary as a middle school science teacher with Chicago Public Schools — and now more than ever she's hunkering down in her belief that anything is possible.
"It's a long shot, but then again who would have ever thought that I could be a mom? Who would have ever thought a single woman could become a mom to two beautiful children? So if that could happen, then to me anything can happen."
Sankstone started a Go Fund Me campaign to collect donations for her cause, with each donation dollar counting as a chance to win the giveaway, so far raising just over $250 as of Monday afternoon. On the day of the show, she says she'll pick one lucky winner at random to pick up the tickets.
Linze Rice talks about Sankstone's plan:
The seats are for general admission pit, "the best seats in the house," Sankstone says, where taping is allowed and just under $100 apiece at face value.
The effort and possible payoff are worth it, she said, to be able to dedicate a full year to raising her foster daughter — a baby girl who has experienced some "very serious, legitimate trust issues" in her short young life already.
Though Sankstone said she realizes her request is a long shot, she's faced tough odds before.
She always dreamed of being a mom but was unable to have her own children, she said. So in 2010 Sankstone became involved in the state's foster-to-adopt program and ultimately adopted her now 4½-year-old daughter.
That was what she described as "miracle" No. 1.
"I love mothering, it's my world," she said. "There is nothing better than caring for my children, and I have amazing kids."
Sharron Sankstone always wanted to go to a Greatful Dead concert with her children. Now she's willing to give up her dream to make a child's come true. [DNAinfo/Linze Rice]
Then, early this year, Grateful Dead members announced they would be reuniting for a final tour, making a stop in Chicago.
A lifelong "Deadhead," Sankstone said she'd been to more than 100 shows, always hoping one day she could dance with her child at a concert.
She ended up with two tickets and "miracle" No. 2: The chance to finally share her love for the Grateful Dead with her daughter.
In April came "miracle" No. 3 — the opportunity to take in another infant foster child, this time with the goal of placing the baby back in her home with her birth family once they are ready to receive her. In the meantime, Sankstone would play Mom, welcoming the new baby, into her and her other daughter's world.
"This all started because [the baby] had some bonding issues in the very beginning and it just killed me that I wasn't with her all the time," she said. "She needs me to be there and make it easy for all the people working on her case. At the end of the year she would be so much further along in development, in safety and security, and so much better emotionally for the rest of her life."
Sankstone requested the names of her children be kept anonymous and their faces not be photographed.
Yet even with the tickets and opportunity to fulfill a lifelong dream of attending a Grateful Dead concert with her daughter, Sankstone said her foster child needs more attention and bonding than what she can provide right now working full-time.
If she could dedicate one full year to nurturing the baby's needs and re-building trust, she believes missing the concert would be worth it.
For that to happen, she's hoping for "miracle" No. 4.
"There's so many appointments, if I had more time to devote to those, it would make the people who are working on her team, their lives a thousand times easier and they will be able to do more for her. So it really is a ripple effect," she said.
If she doesn't raise the money, she says she'll keep the tickets and take her daughter to the show as originally planned, refunding any donations at people's requests.
Regardless, she says she'll always believe in miracles because she lives one every day: being a mother and teacher is its own reward.
But if it were possible to trade one night of fun for one year of love that could change a child's life, she would do it in a heartbeat, she said.
"If I could just have one year, I mean it's a pipe dream, I know, but I'm a dreamer and I believe in miracles," she said. "For me it's a year, for her it's the rest of her life. That's the reason every foster parent does this for, to help the child. For me, I have to believe this will work, I just have to."
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