Keoni Washington misses his mom’s macaroni and cheese, her ham with pineapple on top and her sweet potato casserole topped with marshmallows.

Thanksgiving Day in 2020 was the last time he and his three younger brothers would ever have them.

Their mom, Kawuana Washington, was hospitalized with COVID less than two months later. She didn’t make it. She was only 42.

Keoni and his brothers, all teenagers, never got to say goodbye.

I’ve got chill bumps right now just thinking about them,” she said. “This young man was 18 and he had to become a mother, father and bill payer.

Like many children during the pandemic, they were suddenly orphans, their sole provider gone, their grief complicated by an uncertain future.

Keoni was 18, a recent high school graduate in Antioch with a low-paying job and a newfound passion for boxing. He had thought he would have time to grow into adulthood.

Instead, he was suddenly the one responsible for paying bills, putting food on the table and getting his brothers out of bed and to school.

“At first things were coming at me left and right,” he said. “I didn’t know what to do in the beginning.”

He was determined to keep his family together and stay in the Bay Area. His mom had transplanted them to the region in 2016, moving from Arizona to find a better job and a better life. They had couch-surfed when they arrived in the East Bay, sometimes sleeping in the car until she could save up for their own place to live.

Keoni said his mom was determined, a hard worker, who instilled life lessons in her sons: You’ve got to be able to do things yourself; if you’re not working, you’re not eating.

“I watched my mom do a lot of things on her own,” he said. “She wasn’t afraid to go out and get dirt on her hands to do what she had to do to make sure her kids were straight.”

I watched my mom do a lot of things on her own,” he said. “She wasn’t afraid to go out and get dirt on her hands to do what she had to do to make sure her kids were straight.

Keoni wanted to keep alive his mom’s dream of a good life in California. He thought he could do it himself. He was wrong.

He lost his job. His car broke down. He fell behind on rent.

And then there was the day he had a front tooth knocked loose when he didn’t duck fast enough in the boxing ring. He had it pulled and now wears a retainer with a replacement.

That cost a lot, he said.

Keoni helped get all three brothers to high school graduation and they have stayed together, but there was always something that came up to stall any real sense of stability.

“It was like we were kind of making some steps toward improving and then we were taking steps back,” he said.

He started asking for help.

His pastor and family members offered advice on resources available and gave guidance on the piles of paperwork required to navigate bills, taxes and social services.

Affordable housing caseworker Catherine Joiner has seen a lot of hard luck cases, but she has a soft spot for Keoni and his brothers.

“I’ve got chill bumps right now just thinking about them,” she said. “This young man was 18 and he had to become a mother, father and bill payer.”

There was so much Keoni didn’t know, she said.

“His motivation to keep going …” Joiner said, unable to finish the sentence.

“I just wanted to do whatever I could to help him,” she said.

Joiner pointed Keoni to the Chronicle Season of Sharing Fund, hoping the family might get money to give them a measure of stability they hadn’t had in some time, Joiner said. Season of Sharing works year-round to prevent homelessness and hunger in the Bay Area’s nine counties. All donations are spent helping people in need.

“I was praying somewhere they would get extra help and support,” she said.

Keoni filled out the application.

“Blessfully, I was allowed to maintain our housing and I’ve been trying to manage on my own, but this has come with my fair share of bumps and bruises, growing up with no one to teach me the skills to take on this role,” he wrote in his application. “I’ve had to grow up so fast, I’ve had to learn on the job how to become a man and take on the responsibilities of our household as I go.”

He asked for help. He got four months of back rent to clear the slate.

“I thank them and bless them for helping us,” Keoni said. “At the end of the day they didn’t have to, but they did.”

This isn’t the end of his story though. He will travel to Louisiana in December for a shot on the USA boxing team in the 176-pound weight division at the Paris Olympics next summer.

He ponders the question: What would his mom think?

I thank them and bless them for helping us,” Keoni said. “At the end of the day they didn’t have to, but they did.

“I think she’d be proud,” Keoni said. “It’s weird how it works, but it’s like in my head when I’m tired at the gym or don’t feel like doing anything some days, she’s always that little reminder.”

Still, there won’t be macaroni and cheese, nor ham with pineapple on top or sweet potato casserole this holiday season. The brothers haven’t been in the mood to celebrate the holidays since their mom died.

She’s with them though, Joiner said.

Reach Jill Tucker: jtucker@sfchronicle.com