My name is Jessa.
Meet my neighbor, Marilyn. I met her when we moved into our apartment almost three years ago. The week we moved in, she was moving her husband out into a care facility, as he was suffering from Alzheimer’s and wasn’t able to care for him on her own. Skip forward to three years later, in the midst of the COVID pandemic and she is still living two doors down from us, just as sweet as ever.
A few days ago as I was walking with my dog, I saw Marilyn pulling into her driveway. She always  gets so excited to see Winnie (our dog) while we are out for walks. When she got out of the car to pet her she was wearing a ‘Good Will’ smock.  I asked her where she was coming home from and she told me that she worked at Good Will. I asked if she was happy to be able to get out of the house during all the craziness and she replied, “Well, yes. But my knees and feet get so tired. It’s a lot.” I told her, “You should stay home then, to keep yourself safe and socially distanced.” And then she said, “Oh, I would, but I can’t financially afford to quit working.” So I had fully intended on starting up a fundraiser to help support her. I didn’t think I’d raise enough money to fully financially support her not working, but I figured I could atleast raise enough money for her to be able to take some time off when she needed to.

So I went over to her apartment to see if she would be willing to let me take a picture “for an article about people who were still working during COVID” knowing that she would not agree to me raising money to help support her. When I showed up at her door, she answered in tears. She said, “I feel so sorry you came over here to take a picture. I ruined your article.” She went on to tell me that her manager called her into the office to inform her that she “wasn’t keeping up with her work duties and responsibilities”. She said, “I knew they were going to fire me, so I just quit and told them ‘I’d rather just leave right now if you’re going to just let me go’” and then walked out. So here I am, asking for anyone who can help support this kind, gentle soul. She doesn’t know I’m doing this. She was still doing everything she could to support herself at the age of 83, even though she was tired and sore at the end of each shift. If you can, please help me provide her with some financial ease. It breaks my heart to see her so broken and helpless. Help me help her. She deserves it.