Help the Helper - For Lori Schwartz

HELP A HELPER 
I’ve  been a friend of Lori’s for more than 30 years.  Right now she needs our help  

Lori Schwartz  has given thirty years of her life to those suffering with mental illness in some of the hardest hit communities in the state of California. A deeply compassionate, highly skilled, essential health care professional, Lori has been a lifeline for people with HIV/AIDS, the homeless, victims of domestic violence, and the incarcerated.

Lori has lived in the same apartment in Mar Vista for twenty-five years... that’s a quarter century.  It is her home. 

For some time she has suffered with a dramatically debilitating autoimmune disease, having had  numerous  surgeries. Healthcare is very expensive, but Lori has always been able to work hard to make ends meet, even if by the skin of her teeth. 

However now, due to the tragic pairing of her declining health and the current Economic and Health crises we are all facing right now, Lori can no longer work, and must survive on social security. She has rapidly incurred major blows to her health, nearly incalculable debt, and most pressing— eviction.

Lori’s kidneys failed just before she was scheduled to have a liver transplant. Her surgeon decided not to replace the kidney, theorizing that it would become stronger after she was given the new liver. Unfortunately, this was not the case. After the liver operation, Lori was put on dialysis until such time as her kidney could be replaced. 

Sadly, when a kidney was obtained, the surgery could no longer be performed due to quarantine, and by the time the surgeons did feel it was safe to proceed with the procedure, Lori had lost her health insurance and could no longer afford the transplant  

So now, Lori must go to dialysis threes  times a week, but cannot drive herself, as she has also lost her car insurance. 

She is currently selling all her possessions in an attempt to cover the cost of her moveto a small studio apartment.

Lori Schwartz dedicated her entire life to the service and wellbeing of others, at great risk to her own mental and physical health. Nobody asked her to step up, she just did it. Because that’s what helpers do. 

When somebody like Lori does their work in the world, it tends to go unnoticed. Because the people she works so diligently to support often go unnoticed themselves, along with the problems they face on a daily basis. 
We get to live without thinking about the horrible realities because people like Lori dig into the trenches, sleeves rolled up, and face the music for us.

We our now being gifted with a great opportunity— the call to give something back. 

Please consider donating something to Lori. Your gift to her will, in kind, connect you to her good works. You become a link in the chain— able to claim a small piece of the light Lori shone with her love, in the dark corners of this world.