The Sarah Perry Gift of Financial Security Fund

Hello! Our names are Sara Folden, Rachel Hardies, Laura Havens, and Sandi MacIntosh. We are colleagues and long-time friends of the Perry family.

On February 2, 2023, our dear friend, Sarah Perry received the devastating news that her husband, Robert Perry, had died tragically. Later that day, Sarah had to tell their children, Hannah (14) and Emma (9) that their Dad wasn’t coming home. We created this GoFundMe to provide financial security to Sarah and the girls.

Robert was a Licensed Clinical Social Worker who specialized in serving Veterans and older adults. He worked tirelessly to provide Veterans with much-needed support through their times of suffering. He worked for many years at Peninsula Behavioral Health and New Growth Counseling Services. He had recently started his private practice. For Robert (and for Sarah, who also works in mental health) helping people in the mental health world was never about the money. It was about coming together for our community and making it a better place by listening to and holding other people’s pain. Robert had been active in the mental health community for over 20 years. During that time, he provided extensive care and support to those he served. Sarah has also served our community for 20 years and has provided mental health education to hundreds of community members. She will continue to offer her gentle and kind presence to those who need it.

Some years ago, Sarah was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis (MS). Since then, she’s been receiving expensive medical treatments and regularly meeting with her treatment team. MS is a chronic disease whose symptoms may include numbness, impairment of speech, impairment of muscular coordination, blurred vision, and severe fatigue that can worsen over time.

Robert was an involved dad who routinely provided care for his daughters. He got them ready for school each morning. He was available to pick either one up when they became sick during the day, and he regularly attended school functions. There will be no more strong-daddy hugs for his girls.

His help enabled Sarah to give herself the care she needed to manage the MS. Now Sarah is thrust into being a single parent with no one to share the daily tasks of life with - she’ll be managing their home and everything that implies: raising two active girls; working full time; cooking all their meals; doing all the grocery shopping; and so much more - she is now responsible for ALL the tasks that she had shared with her husband.

In addition to tremendous grief and sadness, Robert’s death creates financial instability for his family. As a result, Sarah’s ability to provide sufficiently for herself and her girls is at risk. Please help us create some financial security so that she doesn’t have this worry on top of the loss and grief she feels and the hard job she has of supporting her girls as they struggle with this new reality. The funds raised will help Sarah pay for her medical expenses, the mortgage, and other costs of living.

If you don’t want to use GoFundMe:

Sarah’s Venmo is: @Sarah-Perry-77264

Checks can be mailed to:

Sarah Perry

C/O New Growth Counseling Services

430 E Lauridsen Blvd

Port Angeles, WA 98362