We’re here because our Friend and Brother, Monte, is hurting, and he needs our help.

Out of as much due regard for his privacy as can be possibly shown on a public website soliciting contributions to assist him, suffice it to say that since October, Monte’s health, which had never been all that good, took a downward turn that required surgical intervention, from which he developed complications that have culminated in his having to be re-hospitalized, this time in critical condition.

Were that not bad enough, a series of missteps tied to his use of an employer provided voluntary leave transfer program which he needed to get him through his first round of surgery and recuperation, ended up with him spiraling down into a financial hole that is getting deeper and wider by the day, putting his family’s security in grave peril even as they try to cope with the prospect of losing him to his afflictions. It is fair to say that these circumstances also weigh on his spirit and are not conducive to the state of mind he will need to claw his way back to wellness.

The Doctors involved in his care have informed him that he will require additional surgeries and a recuperation period of at least three months before he regains the level of health he will need to come back to work. Going forward, it appears that he will not be having further difficulties with the Leave Transfer Program, but the deficits that have already accumulated, the cost of medications, and the additional expenses that always attend a medical crisis means he’s gonna need our help.

Everybody who knows him, knows that if this appeal was for any one of us, he would be one of the first in line to help, as he has always been as a Friend and Union Brother. Please keep him and his family in your prayers and, if you can, contribute what you can to support him in his time of need. May God bless us all and keep us safe and well as we await that happy day when Monte returns to us.