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Reluctantly, an elderly woman seeks help

Editor’s note: The Time is Now to Help was founded by a local businessman who knew extreme poverty as a child. With the help of donations from the community, The Time is Now is able to help local residents in need.

Dear W.C., I am a senior citizen. I have been a widow for many years and raised my son on my own. My husband died in his 30s in a farming accident.

This was many years ago, before women had careers and job skills.

I was a farmer’s housewife. I never had a job, other than helping my husband with the farm and raising my son. Now I am an old woman living in a dilapidated mess of a house.

My son has not been home in more years than I can count. I have had no money to do any repairs on my home in years. It looks as weathered and worn as I do. If I pay for my heart medications, I do not have enough money for food or utilities. I have had broken pipes from not keeping the heat turned up.

I have an old car that I can still drive, but I don’t dare drive far due to gas costs and worries about how unreliable the car can be. I do not want my son to see how I live. I can’t ask him for help, because he is raising a family of his own and just lost his job.

I am so ashamed to ask, but would it be possible to get some help? An Embarrassed Senior

Dear Readers, There was no need for shame or embarrassment. After I spoke with this woman, I could see she was a wonderful person who had fallen on hard times.

When her son called to tell her he had lost his job and could no longer help, she told him she was fine. She told her son she was living off money from selling off her land.

She did not tell him she had been taken advantage of by someone who paid her much less than her land was worth and had run out of money a long time ago.

She was ashamed by her lack of knowledge in business matters.

She tried to get by on the meager amount, but that was spent quickly when she became sick and had many medical bills. Then her property taxes rose. It was all too much for her, so she started to leave her electricity and heat off as much as possible and ate little.

I see this so often in senior citizens. They barely receive enough nutrition to keep themselves healthy. They may eat nothing but soup and crackers for months on end.

Time Is Now stepped in and brought her utilities up-to-date. We had several repairs done to her car to make it more reliable. We also supplied her with gas vouchers to get her to and from the doctor’s office.

We told her about our family resource center/food pantry. If she ever becomes unable to drive, we will deliver her food. Health & Happiness, God Bless, W.C.

A special thank you to Michael and Sue Borden, The Rhoades Foundation, Dick and Jean Honeyager, Peck and Weis, Paper Dolls, Martin O’Brien, Margaret Allender, Mary Cucchi, Ruth Farber, Heidi Hall, Shawna Kneipper, Gene Krauklis, Lisa Loepke, Diane Palma, Cassandra Kordecki, Allan Ackerman and Lynda Adas.

Anyone who would like a Time Is Now donation box in your business, call (262) 249-7000, or you may pick one up from my office, Lake Geneva Area Realty, 101 Broad St., Suite C3, Lake Geneva. If you would like to volunteer at the food pantry/family resource center, call Frank Guske Jr. at (312) 656-6178.

If anyone has a car they are thinking of trading in, or an extra car you are not using, consider donating it with one of the many in desperate need of transportation.

Read the full story in the e-edition of Walworth County Sunday, HERE