Woman Selling Letter From Obama For $11,000

By Soyoung Kwak in News on Jun 19, 2011 6:30PM

How much is a handwritten letter from the sitting president worth? A lot, maybe: a woman from Indiana is selling a handwritten letter from President Obama for $11,000 so she can avoid eviction from her current residence. The woman, Destiny Mathis, wrote to Obama after she gave birth to a premature child and had to quit her job in order to care for the sick child. Much to Mathis' surprise, Obama wrote back.

The letter from Obama is written on the White House letterhead, and also contains an authentic message from Obama, as well as his signature. In the letter, Obama praises Mathis' "positive spirit" and tells her that things will get better for her family. It's been over six months since she received Obama's response, and Mathis is still unemployed. She decided to part with the letter, hoping it could help her stay put:

"But I really don't want to sell it. That's my thing. I never had intentions on selling it when I got it," says Mathis. "It's when I was going through all of the things that I could sell to help my family sustain, that's what came up was the letter and I'm still very torn about losing it."

The letter has not been sold yet, and Obama hasn't commented on the situation. Although Mathis has not found steady employment since the time she wrote to Obama, she says she still supports the Obama administration.