Annie and Matthew are hardworking, compassionate people. Annie was a critical care nurse for years. Empathic, devoted to helping others. Outside of hospital work, she provided pain and stress management in private practice. That’s who she’s always been — till now.
No longer able to work because of medical problems, including breast cancer, side effects of radiation, a total knee replacement, recalcitrant bowel problems, and asthma. Four months ago, despite taking rigorous precautions, she contracted COVID-19 — and was informed last week she now has “long covid,” with persistent fatigue and “brain fog.” Despite her deep faith and desire to help others, she often feels overwhelmed and sometimes hopeless.
She never thought she’d have to ask for help from others; it makes her feel ashamed, though she’s done everything she can to fix things. Along with her son Matthew who has fought long odds from the time of his birth at just one pound. (see picture)
Predicted to die, suffering dozens of cardiac arrests, Matthew fought for life. When his doctors wanted to give up, Annie stayed at his bedside most of every day for weeks at a time, often calling for resuscitation when his heart stopped multiple times a day.
At the same time, Matthew’s father was diagnosed with an invasive brain tumor from which he eventually died.
Defying the odds, Matthew went home. Despite needing a ventilator for several years, his health gradually improved. He finished elementary, junior high, and high school, later college and most of a Master’s degree. He now works nearly 75 hours/week at two full-time jobs while helping care for Annie as best he can. But both jobs are low-paying, and have provided minimal raises in years despite overwhelming inflation.
Until recently, the idea of asking for help with living expenses was unthinkable. Hard work, frugal spending and faith that things would get better were somehow always sufficient. But expenses that were routinely managed have become ongoing crises. Rent, despite Mountain View’s mild rent control, is hard to make — yet they have insufficient funds to pay costs and deposits essential to any move. Day to day groceries exceed their budget. Though most recently an annual income of $109,700 is considered “low income” for a household of two in Santa Clara county, income above $37,000 disqualifies them for federal assistance with food expenses (food stamps).
Keeping Matthew’s car running — a ten-year-old 178,000 mileage compact, the only transportation the family owns — is critical to his ability to work both jobs and run medical errands for Annie — has no margin for error. Some days he has a mere half-hour between the end of one job and the start of another.
Plans to declare bankruptcy, to open future possibilities and protect them from collection agents, can’t be completed because they lack funds to pay attorney’s fees, so must stretch the payments over many months.
They’ve cut expenses, forcing Annie to give up critical medications not adequately covered by Medicare, with co-pays they can’t afford.
After living in the area south of San Francisco for many years, they find themselves virtually trapped in their rented apartment in Mountain View. Housing costs that once were just moderate have skyrocketed over decades — yet somehow they managed to keep up with expenses, though often living “paycheck to paycheck” until inflation hit. Despite their financial challenges, they don’t qualify by federal criteria for badly needed help which are not adjusted for regional variations in ost.
Though the city introduced a degree of rent control almost seven years ago, their rent is still too much for their mostly fixed income, especially since the surge of inflation in the past three. They’ve looked for more affordable options but found very few. In any case, their limited funds make it impossible to move even if they found a better option as they’d have insufficient funds to pay moving expenses, much less necessary initial rent and cleaning deposits. They are essentially marooned.
Both Matthew and Annie have bankruptcies in progress, essential to help them move forward. While the process temporarily shields them from extreme collection harassment, the remaining attorney and other fees must be fully paid before the process can be completed. In their current situation, this will take many months.
Goals:
Funds to permit life-saving completion of bankruptcy in progress (approx. $2000)
Funds to assure continued transportation by car essential to Matthew’s ability to continue both jobs (insurance, repairs, and maintenance — est. $5000 reserve)
Funds to make it possible to move to a more affordable location — enough to support required deposits and moving expenses (est. $7,500)
Until then, supplemental funds to meet monthly rent and avoid eviction (est. $250/month)
Supplemental funds prevent shortfalls in paying for critical non-covered medications (est. $200/month)