UPDATE – December 2025: My mother has moved to a new assisted living residence. She could no longer afford the previous one. The new place is cheaper, but there’s still some waiting before the subsidy kicks in – she’s high on the waiting list. The subsidy would enable her to pay the lowest rate possible. Until that happens, we’re still looking for donations to help out with the December and January rent, as well as to pay for the last two months at the previous place. Please continue reading below. Thanks for considering.

I'll start out with some excerpts from letters written to my mother about 20 years ago:

“Just last night you told me you were praying for me.”

“You demonstrate love for all around you, visiting people in nursing homes.”

“You are such a loving and caring person, more people should be like you.”

“I’m sure you touched many more lives and did much more important work than most people who work in an office all day.”

“For many years you visited the elderly at (unnamed nursing home) more often than their own children did. On the occasions when I came along, I noticed how happy they were to see you brighten up an otherwise dreary day.”

“We moved to Maryland where we never had a car but we managed well because of your resiliency and steadfast determination when it came to walking to stores or taking the bus.”

Update - August 2025.

This is definitely not like the final scene in "It's a Wonderful Life" but we'll keep trying!

In the last year my mom's assisted living expenses have gone up 40%. She's still on the waiting list for a subsidy program and will hopefully move to the top later this year. In the meantime, I ask you to consider this, as described below.

She spent much of her life volunteering for elderly people. The assisted living residence affiliated with the nursing home she volunteered at in the '70s and '80s declined our request to give her a break on prices. ("That's not how it works.") So please remember that she visited the elderly in this nursing home, taking the Ride-On bus and walking a long way to do it.

Can we help her out? If you have any questions, please contact me. Thanks, Mike. -------

Hi. I’m making a request for donations so that my mother Fiona, who is in her late 80s, can stay in her assisted living residence where she has lived for three years.

She helped other people throughout her life, and now we’re hoping she can be on the receiving end of some help. She was a great source of encouragement to everyone from infants and toddlers all the way the elderly.

She volunteered for elderly people most of her adult life. In the 1970s and 1980s, she would go to a local nursing home in Maryland to visit the residents there. She took the bus because she never had a car. Sometimes my sister, brother or I would go with her, and we’d walk the final leg.

Last year I called up the assisted living facility that is affiliated with the nursing home where she volunteered. I told them about how she had volunteered there many years ago. I asked if she could get a discount, but they turned her away.

She also volunteered for elderly people from her 20s until she was in her late 70s, making them feel special, having conversations and providing whatever help she could give. She visited some of the residents more than their own children did, whether through the church or otherwise.

She helped people throughout her life, offering encouragement or prayers to friends when they needed someone.

She started out in England working with disabled children. In New York, she was a nanny. In Maryland, she was the head teacher at a day care center, then did day care in the apartments we grew up in, singing and playing piano, reading, doing art, and teaching the kids life lessons along the way.

She continued doing day care until she couldn't anymore for health reasons, then had a life-saving operation 30 years ago.

She raised three children as a single mother from the time we were young kids.

She has run out of money except for her monthly social security check, which covers just part of her expenses. My sister and I have been paying the difference. I recently took out a home equity loan to help cover the expenses.

She needs the care because she has early dementia and other ailments. Staying where she is would allow her to continue the best care, remain among good friends and familiar faces, and stay within driving distance of my sister and my family.

Assisted living is expensive everywhere. What she pays now is now well more than average for the state of Maryland. Google what assisted living costs are in the U.S., Maryland, and Montgomery County. She is on the waiting list to move to another place that will accept a subsidy, which will be much more affordable, but that will take a while longer.

Thanks so much for considering contributing. Any donations will go directly to pay for her care. Upon request, I can send a receipt to donors that shows their donations went directly from a dedicated account to assisted living expenses.

Feel free to share this link. Thanks again!

"For truly I tell you, if you have faith the size of a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, 'Move from here to there,' and it will move; and nothing will be impossible for you." (Matthew 17:20-21).

Copy of current bill below.

Here are a just a few of the current random medical bills on top of assisted living expenses:

Cardiologist 350.50

Medicare Part D (drugs) 108

Primary Care 208

Prescriptions 377.40

Dermatology Surgical Pathology 244

The nursing home where my mom used to volunteer turned her away when we asked for help. Let's show them that karma works differently when compassionate people come together.

Note: I am organizing this GoFundMe for my mother, and all donations will go directly to pay for her assisted living expenses. Please contact me below if you have any questions. Thanks.

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Also - There’s been a decent showing from friends and relatives – mostly a year ago – only a few recently. I donated 500 myself just to get things rolling.

But what surprises me is that not one person of the thousands I have sent this in a cold-call type way to has even responded, much less donated. I would expect someone to say, “Thanks but I can’t donate right now,” or “How did you get my email?”

So we’ve gotten the same number of donations by stating that my mom was a very giving person (zero) as we would have if I had said she was mean and selfish.

I have donated to people from time to time. 75 to a co-worker’s family member who was ill. 10 a month to a good cause. 25 a couple of times to random GoFundMes. 50 another time. I’m not saying it’s much, but it’s more than nothing.

I don’t think it should be unfathomable that someone who has never met someone could read this and donate. It’s very surprising. I don't understand it.

If a friend, acquaintance or relative sent me something like this, I'd probably donate something. If a random stranger sent me something like this, I would still consider it.

Thanks.