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A little rent money and car repairs go a long way for jobless single mother

Dear W.C.,

Could you please help my family? We are living in a motel room for the next two weeks and after that, we will be homeless.

We lost our home to foreclosure after I was injured in a car accident and lost my job. My unemployment did not cover all our expenses and I was denied disability.

Everything went downhill fast. I just tried to keep food on the table and the utilities paid so my two children would not do without. I tried to save our home, but I could not make the payments while unemployed and trying to rehabilitate from my injuries.

I sold all our belongings just to have enough money to pay for a motel room for a few weeks. The only thing we have left is some clothing and my older car that isn’t worth much.

-- homeless family

Dear readers,

I have been receiving many requests for help from families living in motels. While they are relieved to not be living in their cars or on the street, it is still not an ideal environment to be living in, especially with children. Most of the families I visited recently in motels all were sharing one room and were crowded. They had few personal belongings and felt overwhelming fear about their future.

I drove to the motel named in the letter. The phone number listed on the letter was no longer in service. This is another problem I have run into -- a lack of contact information or the information has changed since the letter was written. If I have no way of contacting someone, it is impossible to offer assistance.

When I knocked on the motel door, I could hear children inside. The door was answered by a weary-looking woman who seemed to be in her late 30s. After introducing myself and showing her some identification, she invited me in to talk. My heart sank when I saw the children were doing their homework crowded around a small end table in the small room. The mother introduced them and they went right back to doing their homework.

The mother said, “There is nowhere for them to play and we had to leave or sell most of their belongings.”

The mother said when the weather was nice, she would take them to the park or the library just to get out of the small room. She said she would use the computer at the library to search for a job.

We talked about her car accident, job loss and foreclosure. It was a story I have heard many times recently. An injury, illness, or job loss, or all combined, and then rent, mortgage payments, utilities, food, car payments and other daily necessities become too much to afford and financial disaster strikes.

This mother did not have any family to fall back on for assistance. Her ex-husband was nowhere to be found for child support. She had managed to support her two children successfully for many years.

Then she was badly injured in a car accident. She was laid up for six months and when she tried to return to work, she found it still too painful. Her spine was injured in several places and she found it difficult to sit or stand for long periods of time, both of which were requirements at her previous job. Her employer let her go.

She received unemployment and applied for disability. She was denied disability and her unemployment was not enough to make ends meet. She stayed in her house until the bank foreclosed and she and her children were evicted.

I could see the tears in the woman’s eyes. She said she had always been so proud of what she had done with her life. When her husband had abandoned her eight years ago when her children were babies, she was determined to get a job and support them on her own. She managed to do that until the car accident changed everything.

We spoke about her injuries and what jobs she felt she could manage. She told me about two jobs she had applied for that seemed right for her abilities. She also told me about a rental that was close by that she felt she could afford as soon as she got a job.

After reviewing her budget, I told her we would pay her first month’s rent and security deposit after she secured one of the jobs. This statement gave her hope. She excitedly said she felt sure she would be able to manage one of these jobs.

Due to the caring and sharing network of The Time Is Now to Help, I knew one of the employers she had applied to for a job. I contacted this employer and asked them to give her a chance. This woman got the job.

The Time Is Now to Help provided this family the promised first month’s rent and security deposit. We supplied them with three beds and bedding. We filled their refrigerator and cabinets with food. We provided toiletries and household necessities -- some of the things they had to leave behind when they were evicted. We also had her car repaired to make it reliable again.

I spoke to the employer several weeks later and they assured me they were very happy with her work.

The next time I visited, I saw two children playing in the living room, not stuck in a small motel room. They seemed much more lively and happy. The mother was excited she had gotten a job, making her independent again.

Thanks to our help, this mother and her children went from despair and homelessness to renewed happiness and excitement for life.

I had told her how The Time Is Now to Help works and how, thanks to all our supporters, our help to our fellow creations continues.

She told me, “Please tell everyone thank you and God bless them for changing our lives.”

Health and happiness,

God bless everyone,

W.C./Sal Dimiceli Sr.

Please help: Make checks payable to: The Time Is Now to Help, P.O. Box 70, Pell Lake, WI 53157. The Time Is Now to Help is a federally recognized 501(c)3 charitable organization licensed in Wisconsin and Illinois. You will receive a tax-deductible, itemized, thank-you receipt showing exactly what every penny of your donation provided for the poverty stricken.

A very special thank you to: Bill and Lois McEssy/McDonald’s, Fox Charities, Kunes Country Auto Group, Clarence and Marilyn Schawk Family Foundation, Unilock, Paul Ziegler and the Ziegler Charitable Foundation, Leather Lips Watersports, Elkhorn Roofing, Gregg Kunes, Brian Pollard, John Clair, North South Foods Group, Eye Physicians & Surgeons and their employees, Lake Geneva Middle School seventh-grade Lake House, Heinz’s Diamond Motors, Lisa and David Issroff, Dick and Jean Honeyager, Martin O’Brien, Donald and Ellen Siehoff, Distribution & Transportation Service, Jim and Sue Burke, Silver Sneakers, Joe and Cecilia Kowalski, Victor and Doris Kranitz, WD Averitt, Robert and Elizabeth Sanders, Dorothy Tookey, Carl and Estrid Sanders, Patty and Sid Johnson, Glen and Ellen Wiedenhoeft, Joseph and Maureen Shaughnessy, Rick Onisko, Richard Jais, Jackson Creek Apartments tenants, Joanne Zeasman, Patricia Erickson, the Ahler Family, Kenneth and Joyce Pagel, David Segerstrom, Thomas Grotelueschen, Linda Skiles and family (in memory of Kelly Skiles), B.J. Williams (in memory of Thomas Ultsch), James and Karen Bowey (in memory of their son, Chuck Bowey), Joy Oleston, Tom and Sally Talamantes, the McCabe family, Peter and Gail Nieuwenhuis, Les and Pauline Malsch (in honor of Barbara Giovannoni, Mary Gauger, and Mary Smarslek’s birthdays), W.C. Family Resource Center/Food Pantry volunteers, and all the God-loving volunteers of all our caring food pantries, all of you who support The Time Is Now to Help donation boxes, and the businesses that allow our donation boxes. Anyone who would like a Time Is Now donation box in your business, please call (262) 249-7000.

You can help

What: The Time is Now can be contacted by mail or online only.

Mail: P.O. Box 70, Pell Lake, WI 53157.

Online: www.timeisnowtohelp.org.