Angels, All
Your kindness brings relief, joy and dignity to a proud senior citizen
Dorothy nervously takes my call after several attempts. How, she wonders politely but coolly, can she help me? She’s 85 years old, and understandably wary of strangers who call her out of the blue.
But when I tell her I’m from The Human Utility, the organization that just helped her avoid having her water shut off, it’s as if the whole world is bathed in the light of her joy.
Dorothy declares that I’m an angel. “An absolute angel,” she repeats, with emphasis. So is Marie, the person who actually works with people in need to get their bills paid. “So nice! So kind!” And Tiffani, our founder. And you, our donors. Angels, all.
Last month, people like you helped pay Dorothy’s water bill, to her great relief.
“Thanks to you all and God bless you,” she says, with true conviction. She’s not used to getting help from strangers acting kindly and committed to doing the right thing — helping a senior citizen with advanced arthritis keep the water running from her taps. But that’s what you all made possible. It only took $150.
When you’re 85, perhaps you hope that you’ll be able to live without the worries that have plagued you most of your life. But Dorothy can’t. And that’s very stressful. She lives alone on a limited income. “I try very hard to keep up with all my bills, but sometimes, I get behind.”
Which is when the trouble starts. Catching up is nearly impossible. Where would the money come from? She survives on less than 150% of the poverty limit for a single adult (currently $17,805 a year, if you’re wondering).
In her life, she gave birth to 11 babies, 7 of whom survive. Two of them live on her very own street. But she is resolute about not asking those adult children to pay her bills. “They have their own families to take care of,” she pointed out. “I have 17 grandkids and 20 great-grands.”
Dorothy qualified for Michigan’s Water Residential Assistance Program (WRAP) for 12 months. Because she had a stellar record of keeping her bill up to date, she was permitted to stay on the program another 12 months. But after that second year, she had maxed out her WRAP benefits. That’s when she ran into problems again paying her water bill.
She found The Human Utility online, with the help of her daughter, who also helped her submit her paperwork to us. We paid a little more than half her bill, to bring her up to date and avoid any possibility of a shut off. “I try to be a good person. I’m so thankful for the kindness,” Dorothy repeats. “It takes a lot off my mind to know my bill is current. I really appreciate it.”
