Friend: It's important for me to share my story with you about why I'm running and why this campaign means so much to me. I hope you'll give it a read.

Back when I was a social worker, I met a young boy who was being seriously neglected at home. He needed immediate support – but I was told it would be weeks before he could be evaluated. I didn't think he would make it until then, so I went around the red tape and got him the help he needed. I was reprimanded, but that's what it took to save his life.

I remember being so angry that the system designed to help children like him had totally failed him. That's when I heard that the Orlando Police Department was recruiting, and I took a call to protect and serve my community, to help people like that young boy.

Fast-forward 27 years: I was Orlando's first woman chief of police and worked tirelessly so children like that young boy I'd met as a social worker didn't have to live in fear of playing in the streets. In my last days as chief, Mayor Buddy Dyer sat me down for a chat:

"You have to run for Congress," he told me.

Me? A politician? I never thought of myself that way. I even laughed.

But, as I let the idea sink in, I thought about that young boy I helped as a social worker – we were still in touch three decades later. I knew he wasn’t the only one who had to overcome hardship in his childhood: 1 in 7 kids in the U.S. lives in poverty. If I could do something to help kids like him, wouldn’t it be wrong to pass up the opportunity?

That’s when I realized that I needed to run for office to help as many children and working families as I could – so that in the next generation, more children from Florida could grow up with an incredible story of opportunity like mine. Ever since then, I’ve never stopped fighting toward that goal.

I'll never tire of an opportunity to do good and to serve the most vulnerable members of my community, and I'm asking you to do the same. Pitch in a contribution of $5 or more now to help send me to the Senate and continue my work of building a better future for our children.

Not a day goes by that I don't think about that child – or all of the working families who are counting on leaders like me to help them get through dark times. To thrive and not just survive.

For me, that's what this is all about – and it's why I believe the Senate is where I can do the most good. If I win this race, Democrats can expand our Senate majority. We'll be able to extend the enhanced Child Tax Credit that's cut child poverty by more than 40%. We'll protect children from gun violence. And we'll help families keep food on the table by making groceries and gas more affordable.

That's the long and short of why I'm in this race, friend. If you're ready to help me build a better future, will you donate to my campaign today?

Thanks for reading my story,

Val Demings