Edna evacuated to Pittsburgh HurcnSandy

My dear friend Edna Farrington, an 84 year old wheel chair bound former Embassy nurse and victim of Hurricane Sandy 
was evacuated from her nursing home in Far Rockaway, NYC after the storm. The nursing home where she was living is located a few blocks from the Atlantic Ocean,  one of the worst hit areas in NYC.  

When I heard on the "national news" that residents from the nursing homes in Far Rockaway were being evacuated, I knew Edna was in one of those homes. At that moment I knew I had to  take action. My 17 year old son and I drove to NYC in search of Edna.  We found her and arranged to go back and pick her up a week later and bring her to Pittsburgh.   She has no  family to look out for her.  

Edna needs our help.  She is in need of $3600.00 to pay for the deposit at a nursing home and respite costs from when she first arrived in Pittsburgh. In January,  her pension will cover her  monthly nursing home costs. Her immediate need  is  the deposit money required by the nursing home and the money to cover her respite nursing home cost when she first arrived in Pittsburgh.  The nursing home has given us an extension of one week  to pay the deposit. The deposit is due on December 21, this Friday.


Edna entered my  life for the first time  when my husband Scott and I  were  in Mozambique with our young family.  She was the embassy nurse and took such good care of us in a difficult living environment especially with young children. 

I have been working really hard to try and get Edna's December pension and social security checks sent to her in Pittsburgh.  The checks went to her former nursing home and we are having great difficulty getting them to release her money.  Even if her funds do come in for December they will not cover the down payment  or respite costs she has incurred.

Bringing Edna to Pittsburgh has turned out to be an amazing journey of faith for me.  On  this journey, I  learned and experienced the following:
"Love is perfect kindness." and "Kindness is the shadow of God's spirit in us and in  the world."

Thanks for reading Edna's story.