Help senior citizen Nicole pay her rent

Who is Nicole?

We met our friend Nicole years ago in a senior book club in Cambridge, MA - which we all still attend. She’s a ferocious book lover, reading in English, French (her native tongue), Spanish, and Italian. We relish her engagingly astute and far-ranging contributions to our discussions.

Recently we discovered -- to our surprise and dismay -- that Nicole has fallen on hard times financially. Although she has worked all her life (including as a French teacher, language textbook editor, and an administrative assistant at Harvard), her savings and monthly income are no longer keeping up.

To be specific.

Nicole is over 65 and retired, her monthly income is $1000 (from Social Security), and she has less than $4000 left in savings. On this basis she has been certified by the government as in need of assistance. She lives very frugally. She receives EBT (aka SNAP; food stamps). She also gets Buy-In MassHealth, which pays the premium for Medicare as well as covering some prescription drugs through Extra Help. She sometimes needs dental and eye care, which of course she must pay on her own. She also pays for a necessary Medicare supplement plan.

The immediate need is for rent.

Nicole’s present rent + utilities are relatively cheap for Somerville at $1500 per month. Nicole has lived in her present apartment for 34 years. Because of her financial situation, she is resigned to moving into subsidized housing as soon as she can find a spot. There, her rent will be regulated at not more than 30% of her income.

Our goal is $18,000.

This will pay the rent on Nicole’s apartment until she gets into subsidized housing, allowing her to stay there while waiting for subsidized housing. She will use this time to methodically “downsize” (mostly books!).

Note.

To retain her benefits, Nicole must not exceed $4000 in savings. Therefore, donations will go to the Organizer, who will then distribute them to Nicole as needed, such that she stays below that amount.

Thank you

for any donation you feel able to make.

And for passing this appeal along

to others who might like to help.