Thursday night I saw a post on NextDoor from Jackie Thomas.

She was a desperate 60-year-old disabled woman who's ride to the courthouse fell through. I felt awful and messaged her to give her a ride.

When we felt sufficiently safe she wasn't an axe murderer, I went and picked her up Friday morning.

Jackie worked for the Houston Police Credit Union and other banks for 40 years in collections specializing in kindness. She was laid off during covid. Shortly after, she got sick. She is in stage 3 kidney failure, has gastroparesis, and severe infections in both feet. She recently had toes amputated due to the infection and is allergic to antibiotics. I have no doubt that if we can come together as a community, we can help this 60 year old woman get back on her feet!!! She has applied for disability, but we all know how long that can take.

While laid off and sick, bills piled up. She couldn't afford trash pickup, so that stopped.

Her car was on it's last legs and finally broke down, leaving her relying on rides from friends and neighbors.

She couldn't afford her phone, so she could no longer get help with her electricity bill from charities.

The trash and filth has piled up.

She eats only what she can cook in a coffee pot run off an extension cord from her neighbors. Her electricity has been off since October. Water has been off longer than that.

I spent all day with her Friday.

The judge gave her 6 months before the next court date.

We paid her cell phone for a year ($15 a month+taxes/fees)

We found an electricity company to turn her service back on Wednesday, but she'll need help with the bills.

We set up her home internet install for 1/31 with the connectivity program, so it's free to her. With her work history, we are hoping to help her find a job she can do from home.

We set trash service back up for her house in our name and paid the deposit.

We paid for her drivers license renewal ($33).

We found a junker company to buy her irreparable car to get her a little cash in hand.

Walked through her house to asses what is needed....

Any one of us is closer to being in her situation than a multi-millionare any day of the week.

What can you do?

We'll be organizing a cleanup crew for her home after the freeze. We need to rent a dumpster and bring every cleaning supply known to man .

A dumpster rental is $700

Cleaning supplies will be over $100

Her electrical needs looked over as it was having issues.

She has a broken pipe, which led to a $1700 water bill and her water being shut off. We have someone who can repair the pipe, but we need to buy the supplies.

This money would cover everything to get her back up and running with all her utilities and her home cleaned up. We are trying to find a charity to help with the water bill, so we can have that turned back on too.

This isn't about getting her home perfect condition. This is helping get her into where she can LIVE and breath while she figures out her next steps in life.

Please help Jackie.