Wednesday, November 25, 2009
Her electric bill is overpowering
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Previous Good Neighbors Fund stories
- Good Neighbors Fund passes 2010 collection total
- Good Neighbors total ahead of last year's
- Still time to get a cookbook
- Mom wishes for a steady job
- Woman, 93, loves to care for younger people
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When Marie -- who asked that her real name not be used for this story -- was growing up in a rural Virginia county, her family was the only one in the area with a color TV. Soon, their house became a gathering place for all of the neighbors.
"I got mad," she said. "We couldn't watch what we wanted."
Today, Marie, 61, can say her home is just as bustling. But this time, the attraction is not a television -- but Marie herself. With her generous heart and her way with children, Marie's home is enlivened by the comings and goings of family.
"I always get the kids and spoil them," she said, chuckling.
When Marie was 19, one of her sisters moved to Roanoke, and it wasn't long before the whole clan picked up and joined her.
"I think it's better here," Marie said. "At home, there's nothing."
In 1969, Marie moved her three children into the subsidized apartment in the complex she still lives in today. She said despite the low rent -- currently only $80 -- Marie needed to work two jobs to support her family.
Her sisters pitched in to help mind the children when she left home at 5 a.m. for her first job and came home from her second one at 1 or 2 a.m. She often did it for as many as eight days in a row.
"I rested in between," she said, and days off were for catching up on her sleep.
As her children grew older, Marie cut back to just one job, which she held until 1994, when her doctors advised her to apply for Social Security Disability. Marie didn't want to stop working, she said. "I cried when I had to quit."
But a variety of ailments including arthritis and a heart condition make it difficult for her to walk even from the parking lot to her apartment, so she knew she had no choice but to retire.
Marie has never liked her apartment. Although it faces a patch of woods, "there are wild animals, like skunks, in there," she said. When comparing electric bills with those of her neighbors, she finds that her unit costs more to light, heat and cool than the others do, sometimes coming in at more than $1,000 in a two-month period. With an income of just $759 per month, it is often more than she can afford.
In September, Marie said, she received a disconnect notice from the power company for a balance of $498. Marie said she had been to Roanoke Area Ministries "a long time ago," and she remembered that "they were real nice."
When she came back this year looking for help, the bill was more than the agency's Emergency Financial Assistance Program -- which is supported by the Roanoke Times' Good Neighbors Fund -- could cover. But Marie was given a grant of $200. Most of the rest she made up with contributions from her sisters and other relatives.
"But it's still not paid off," she said .
When Marie is not taking care of children, she likes to walk for exercise and to keep her heart healthy. Her dream is to someday buy her own home, she said. But she is looking forward to finally moving into a new unit, which she hopes will be more energy-efficient than her old one.
Marie is grateful to those who gave to the Good Neighbors Fund, she said.
"When you get older like me, you don't always have the funds to make it," she said.
