I read about Richard Myers sudden passing and it struck me. I was struck by the fragility of life. I have read Richard's diaries and I thought of what he must have been like and what his family must be going through.
Then I read a heartbreaking diary this morning that was posted last night here. I live close enough that I thought I would take a cleaning/laundry day and change track. I drove the 25-30 minutes to see Candy and see what sort of needs she has.
I found the place easily enough and went up to the trailer door. I knocked a couple of times and a dog came out of the back doggie door to see who was knocking, but otherwise no answer. Just as I was leaving a car pulled into the driveway and Candy and her friend Tina were just coming home.
Candy was surprised but not shocked to see me. It seems that Richard has been a longtime activist and has many friends on line and off. She understood that I was there to see if she was real and what her needs were so that I could accurately articulate them to the community.
The first thing she did was pull out Richard's death certificate. She offered it without me asking, but it made me feel like crap. She understood that Richard's online friends had to be cautious. Then she told me how Richard had died suddenly of cardiac arrest. She showed me the notice the landlord had served her and told me that she and Richard were not liked by the managers because they were activists and had taken some of their friends in when they had been down on their luck. They have little, but shared the little they had when it was needed.
Richard had paid the December rental and she is only a few days late for this month, but she has been told it will take about 30 days for her money to start coming in from the death benefits Richard had. In the meantime if her rent is not paid in full by Friday, they will evict her no matter if she does pay even with penalties. Candy made clear that all she wants is to stay in her home. She is on disability and has already spent her $80 allowance in food stamps and is living in a terrible limbo without money coming in and the promise of plenty just around the bend.
I want to get her the bare minimum and little extra. She just needs about 30 days to get her money. The rental is $638 and her utilities are $168. She has only $80 in food stamps for the month, which is already gone. I will help some with the food issue. I will make her a fresh fruit and veggie care package with some prepared frozen meals I make for those too tired to cook days.
She says if she could pay two months rent she would be all set. What do you all think? $638 to just stay and $1270 to make sure when February comes she does not have this same issue. It would give her breathing room to get everything taken care of and not have to worry about being evicted in the meantime.
Candy is still trying to figure out everything and has no way to verify to Paypal so she can get more than $500 in one month. So I am going to take her a money order from any donations you can give to my Paypal account.
Please send your donations to help Richard Myer's family to the Paypal account attached to madlyblue at msn .com
Anything will be gratefully accepted and I will delete the diary when we reach a goal of $1270.
I will try to make sure she sees these diaries. I am going to see her tomorrow with some goodies and an update so she can quit worrying so much.
9:14 PM PT: UPDATE: I just got home and hit my Paypal account for a total. We have made our goal and more!
I will take Candy a money order for what we have made so far tomorrow. I called her before I left for a movie date I had made last week (Lincoln was awesome and I know some of the actors in it from my work), and told her that she had enough money for her rental spot for January. She was so happy she didn't know whether to cry or jump for joy.
She wants to write to you all and I promised to type it out and post it. It seems that she is without a computer monitor and has no way to access DailyKos herself.
9:34 PM PT: After reading all the comments, I agree that raising more than the goal will help out the family more than I could have ever dreamed. I will not delete as previously stated in this diary, but I will keep it going until it is done.
So far we have raised $3125.84; I am so happy I could cry. I want to thank you all for giving me the opportunity to do something small that made my year start off with such fulfillment and joy. Seeing Candy's face when I hand her your generous gifts will be more reward than I can express.