A  struggling and recently homeless single mother of three is grateful her 9 year old daughter’s ukulele video for the  Gain ‘Smells Like a Million Bucks’ contest was chosen as a finalist out  of 500 entries. She’s asking for your help to create what she calls, “A  Miracle, and a way for us to help others.”

Kapaa, HI, July 13, 2011 - When nine year old ukulele player, Rainbow Star Zephier, saw the Gain  “Smells Like a Million Bucks” contest on Facebook, she asked her mom if  the family could enter and showed her some lyrics she had already  written for their contest entry, saying maybe if they win, they could  afford to fix their car. Her mom was touched. The last two years have  not been easy for the family, when the economy took a turn for the  worst, so did her business. After that a long-term relationship ended,  leaving her with double the bills, and the single mom of three found the  only option the family had was to live in a tent while she tried to get  back on her feet.

“It  was the hardest time of my life,” said Schneider. “The business went  under, my relationship failed, and since I was diagnosed with Lyme’s  disease in 2008, the stress sent my symptoms and the pain into  overdrive, making it hard to even think. Our family was in crisis and we  simply had no where else to go but a tent or the car. But the gift of  that situation was that I learned how hard it is for other single mom’s  and families on Kauai who struggle with homelessness because of  financial, health or relationship challenges. The non-profits are  stretched to the max. and we found out resources and help was hard to  come by because so many people need help right now.”

The  family got a big surprise this week, when their video entry received  more than 1600 votes in Gain’s preliminary competition, and they were  selected as a finalist out of 500 other entries for the million dollar  prize. Contestants had to create a 60 second video that uses the phrase  “I use Gain and I Smell Like A Million Bucks!”

The  young star of their contest entry, Rainbow Star, hopes to be as she  puts it, an ‘Ukulele Rock Star’ one day, and says, “Our video tells a  story with Aloha and since Gain smells good, I wanted to show all the  things I love in Hawaii that smell good like the ocean, wind, flowers  and my favorite, the smell of rain on Mount Wai'ale'ale. So we used lots  of Plumeria, my favorite flower, and I made the lei and wrote the  lyrics. So then I had to think of what smells bad. And a friend said my  brothers smell stinky... so my lyrics tell a story about how Gain can  get even boy’s stinky laundry clean and smelling like paradise, because  my Mommy and I use Gain.”

The  top prize in the competition is one million dollars, and the family  wants to give back with donations to  local non-profits that help  families and children if they win.

“This  is an amazing opportunity,” says Schneider. “How many people get a  chance to not only change their lives forever, but to also give back to  the community for help that was given, and to change the lives of others  in a profound way? Everything happens for a reason, even hard times can  turn into a miracle.”

The  family hopes to buy a home themselves so they will never have to worry  about being homeless again, and then give generously to the community.  “We don’t need much,” says Schneider, “We live simply, a home is what  matters, and when you have nothing, just that sounds like heaven. Then,  we want to make sure other families who are struggling can also  experience miracles.”

“I  don’t want any single mother on Kauai to have to experience the stress  and struggle of what our family’s gone through. Single mom’s have a  unique situation when they are in crisis, they have no partner or second  income to help bail them out. If I win I want to find a way to help  that in the community.”

They need your help to win! The million dollars goes to the video with the most votes. Voting  starts Monday, July 18th at 6am Hawaii Time, and ends Monday, August 1st  at 6am on Facebook. You can vote once a day during the voting period.

To vote, go to http://VoteSingleMom.com where the family will post links and instructions on where to vote.

Gain is also going to be giving away prizes for people who are voting,  so you may end up a winner as well!