Pennies for Passes
Matthew Whaley Elementary School just completed a community service outreach campaign called “Pennies for Passes”. The school began collecting coins in early April in an effort to raise funds to support Williamsburg citizens who cannot afford regular bus transit passes. The campaign ran almost a month and culminated with Global Youth Service Day on April 26, 2013. A Matthew Whaley fourth-grader, pictured here with the school’s collection jars, thought of the fundraising idea and arranged for each classroom to have their own collection jar.
The full article can be found by clicking here on Williamsurg-James City County’s Helping Williamsburg for Global Youth Service Day page.
A Friendly Voice
One Monday morning our Community Resource Center (CRC) staff came to work and listened to a message from an elderly lady who lives on minimal disability income. She needed assistance to pay her electric bill. One of our CRC staff returned her call mid-morning that day and talked to the client for almost an hour. They found out that she was able to make a payment on her electric bill in order to avoid cut-off at that time.
She also talked about her medical issues which include the possibility of an incurable hereditary disease, a number of tumors that have been found throughout her body and she had appointments scheduled for biopsies and possible removal of the tumors. Her fixed disability income is just enough to pay for the basic necessities in her life, so when her heat and a/c unit went out in early October, she was left with a $1,900 bill to add to her regular bills, which is what put her behind on her electric.
CRC offered her a referral to FISH for food but she said she was alright at that time. However, when she came home from the hospital after all the surgeries, she feared her electric will be close to being disconnected again. She was told not to worry; there would be assistance for her when that time came if she needed it.
Sometimes all it takes is talking out our issues with a friendly voice, and life does not seem so bad after all. This also shows that we can be happy with the things we have and grateful for all blessings, no matter how small.
Aging in Place
Helping our seniors stay in their homes as long as possible requires the cooperation of many community resources, such as providing transportation to the doctor and shopping when driving a personal vehicle is no longer an option or simply checking in to see if everything is alright.
We are fortunate to have several organizations, both nonprofit and for-profit serving our older citizens. However, getting the information out to them before they are in need is sometimes challenging.
Carrie still lives at home in the house she built with her husband. Although he died several years ago, she still wants to remain in her home as long as she can.
If a friend hadn’t stopped by to visit and noticed her electricity was off… If the weather that day had been snow instead of rain… this could have been a much different story.
As it was, Carrie’s friend knew about United Way’s Community Resource Center and brought Carrie, who was 84 at the time, to our office. “I didn’t know there was anyone to help me”, Carrie said. “I didn’t know who to call”, she continued.
Our CRC staff made several calls and were able to find the money to pay Carrie’s overdue bill. Thankfully, her power was turned on that same day!