Homeless In Winter
Donation protected
This is a plea for help. This is also Paula Krauss's story.
Paula is a friend and neighbor. I met her over a year ago when she lived in the apartments beside my house. This summer she and her partner Stef were evicted when the rent was increased.
Paula is middle aged. She is wheelchair bound. She lost the lower part of one leg when she was only four years old in a lawnmower accident. Since that time she has had innumerable surgeries and other health problems. Yet throughout this she was able to work until her mid forties when finally she was forced to retire.
Paula has never had it easy but you will never hear her complain. Since retiring she has had several heart attacks, fused nerves in her spine and arthritis of her hips among other complications. It is due to her handicaps that Paula's efforts to find affordable housing is near impossible. She is on two lists for low income housing and in one is at #175 and the other somewhere around #200. That means she has to wait for 175 people on one list and 200 on another to move so she can move in.
Due to her health problems Paula is on state assistance and social security disability. Her medicine costs over $3000 per month. The state covers her medicine and doctor's visits. She also gets $15 in food stamps.
When Paula was evicted she was left to sit in front of her apartment in her electric wheelchair. She had no money for an apartment which always has to include a security deposit and first and last months rent. She could not get into any friend's apartments due to the size of her wheelchair and her need for handicapped services such as a bathroom which conforms to her needs. She cannot go to a homeless shelter because they will not allow her partner to stay with her and without his help she cannot get on a toilet or get into a bed. The shelter will not help her because they are concerned they will get sued.
When they were evicted Paula's partner Stef asked me if they could stay in my shed in my backyard. This was in the summer and I was upset that people wanted to stay in a shed I wouldn't have thought was good enough for a dog. But my home is quite tiny and there is no way Paula could get in it and no way she could go through a door to use the bathroom.
I reluctantly agreed to let them stay in my shed, concerned for their comfort and safety. They moved a bed and a few things in and with hard work and the help of friends they made a temporary home in my backyard shed.
Throughout the summer they worked non stop to get housing but failed. Still throughout this Paula needed to go to doctor's appointments and get her medication. Because of the slope of my backyard she has fallen from her wheelchair twice and an ambulance had to be called to get her up in as painless a way as possible and also to assess any injuries. Due to the heat she was forced to go to the local library during the day and there she has fallen as well. Besides her injury and heart attacks as a wheelchair bound person she has problems with her digestion and can easily have diarrhea which makes her very ill.
Winter is the hardest time for Paula. The cold ratchets up the pain. She has thin blood so her extremities get very cold. There is no heat in that shed. I've given them a space heater and an electric blanket and Stef is planning to insulate the shed with cardboard boxes and a tarp.
Last week we had a snowstorm. I watched from my kitchen window as Steph opened the shed door (which is a converted garage door) bringing back some groceries and the snow and wind blew into the shed where Paula was laying.
No one should live like this. Neither Paula nor Stef are drug addicts or alcoholics. They are not lazy people. They help others in need. They have many friends. Life dealt Paula a bad hand and she has worked hard all her life to do what everyone takes for granted: hold a job, pay her bills, fall in love and live a happy life.
Paula knows several languages. She was a professional singer. She plays piano. She has facebook friends all over the world. She has lots of friends in the Northeast where she was born and raised. Paula is a hoot, a spitfire who will tell you the honest truth in the most colorful language and leave you breathless with laughter.
But she's not laughing now. Paula is in dire straits and has nowhere else to turn. State and federal programs have helped her but only so far. Not enough to make sure this kind woman isn't living in a run down shed in the Connecticut winter.
I want Paula and her partner in a handicapped apartment. Barring that a handicapped room in a motel or hotel. Friends once got together and got enough money for her and Stef to stay in a motel. There she had two nights in air conditioning and a bath. That was six months ago. It has been six months since this person who is in constant pain has been indoors.
So I am asking, I am begging people to please give out of the kindness of their hearts.
Ask yourselves if you believe that a world in which people like Paula are left to live outside like an animal is acceptable. Ask yourself what if it was your mother, or your father, your aunt, or you, what would you want to have done?
I myself have helped as much as I can but I am a widow on a pension and I get by, but I don't have enough money to help them. So I am asking others to help.
In order to continue to get her medication and doctor's visits and hospitalization Paula cannot make any money. So in order to stay alive she cannot accept any money from her friends or this will affect her assistance.
This is why I didn't start a gofundme when she was first evicted. But now this is life or death. I cannot sit in my warm home and know this woman is curled up in a bed in a shed in subzero weather. This cannot go on.
I am opening a separate account at my bank for any money which is donated and I will use the money to get Paula and Stef into a motel. I will get receipts to prove where the money is going and will show those receipts to anyone who wants to see them.
Three days ago we had a snowstorm which luckily wasn't as bad as we had feared. Stef hasn't been able to insulate the shed because that would mean moving Paula and she is in too much pain to be outside for more than a brief time. Our 14 day extended forecast calls for 40 degrees during the day dipping to 20 degrees at night. And that is considered pretty mild. But mid December we're going to get ice and there is no way Paula can go over ice on her motorized wheelchair.
They need help now. Please help them.
Paula is a friend and neighbor. I met her over a year ago when she lived in the apartments beside my house. This summer she and her partner Stef were evicted when the rent was increased.
Paula is middle aged. She is wheelchair bound. She lost the lower part of one leg when she was only four years old in a lawnmower accident. Since that time she has had innumerable surgeries and other health problems. Yet throughout this she was able to work until her mid forties when finally she was forced to retire.
Paula has never had it easy but you will never hear her complain. Since retiring she has had several heart attacks, fused nerves in her spine and arthritis of her hips among other complications. It is due to her handicaps that Paula's efforts to find affordable housing is near impossible. She is on two lists for low income housing and in one is at #175 and the other somewhere around #200. That means she has to wait for 175 people on one list and 200 on another to move so she can move in.
Due to her health problems Paula is on state assistance and social security disability. Her medicine costs over $3000 per month. The state covers her medicine and doctor's visits. She also gets $15 in food stamps.
When Paula was evicted she was left to sit in front of her apartment in her electric wheelchair. She had no money for an apartment which always has to include a security deposit and first and last months rent. She could not get into any friend's apartments due to the size of her wheelchair and her need for handicapped services such as a bathroom which conforms to her needs. She cannot go to a homeless shelter because they will not allow her partner to stay with her and without his help she cannot get on a toilet or get into a bed. The shelter will not help her because they are concerned they will get sued.
When they were evicted Paula's partner Stef asked me if they could stay in my shed in my backyard. This was in the summer and I was upset that people wanted to stay in a shed I wouldn't have thought was good enough for a dog. But my home is quite tiny and there is no way Paula could get in it and no way she could go through a door to use the bathroom.
I reluctantly agreed to let them stay in my shed, concerned for their comfort and safety. They moved a bed and a few things in and with hard work and the help of friends they made a temporary home in my backyard shed.
Throughout the summer they worked non stop to get housing but failed. Still throughout this Paula needed to go to doctor's appointments and get her medication. Because of the slope of my backyard she has fallen from her wheelchair twice and an ambulance had to be called to get her up in as painless a way as possible and also to assess any injuries. Due to the heat she was forced to go to the local library during the day and there she has fallen as well. Besides her injury and heart attacks as a wheelchair bound person she has problems with her digestion and can easily have diarrhea which makes her very ill.
Winter is the hardest time for Paula. The cold ratchets up the pain. She has thin blood so her extremities get very cold. There is no heat in that shed. I've given them a space heater and an electric blanket and Stef is planning to insulate the shed with cardboard boxes and a tarp.
Last week we had a snowstorm. I watched from my kitchen window as Steph opened the shed door (which is a converted garage door) bringing back some groceries and the snow and wind blew into the shed where Paula was laying.
No one should live like this. Neither Paula nor Stef are drug addicts or alcoholics. They are not lazy people. They help others in need. They have many friends. Life dealt Paula a bad hand and she has worked hard all her life to do what everyone takes for granted: hold a job, pay her bills, fall in love and live a happy life.
Paula knows several languages. She was a professional singer. She plays piano. She has facebook friends all over the world. She has lots of friends in the Northeast where she was born and raised. Paula is a hoot, a spitfire who will tell you the honest truth in the most colorful language and leave you breathless with laughter.
But she's not laughing now. Paula is in dire straits and has nowhere else to turn. State and federal programs have helped her but only so far. Not enough to make sure this kind woman isn't living in a run down shed in the Connecticut winter.
I want Paula and her partner in a handicapped apartment. Barring that a handicapped room in a motel or hotel. Friends once got together and got enough money for her and Stef to stay in a motel. There she had two nights in air conditioning and a bath. That was six months ago. It has been six months since this person who is in constant pain has been indoors.
So I am asking, I am begging people to please give out of the kindness of their hearts.
Ask yourselves if you believe that a world in which people like Paula are left to live outside like an animal is acceptable. Ask yourself what if it was your mother, or your father, your aunt, or you, what would you want to have done?
I myself have helped as much as I can but I am a widow on a pension and I get by, but I don't have enough money to help them. So I am asking others to help.
In order to continue to get her medication and doctor's visits and hospitalization Paula cannot make any money. So in order to stay alive she cannot accept any money from her friends or this will affect her assistance.
This is why I didn't start a gofundme when she was first evicted. But now this is life or death. I cannot sit in my warm home and know this woman is curled up in a bed in a shed in subzero weather. This cannot go on.
I am opening a separate account at my bank for any money which is donated and I will use the money to get Paula and Stef into a motel. I will get receipts to prove where the money is going and will show those receipts to anyone who wants to see them.
Three days ago we had a snowstorm which luckily wasn't as bad as we had feared. Stef hasn't been able to insulate the shed because that would mean moving Paula and she is in too much pain to be outside for more than a brief time. Our 14 day extended forecast calls for 40 degrees during the day dipping to 20 degrees at night. And that is considered pretty mild. But mid December we're going to get ice and there is no way Paula can go over ice on her motorized wheelchair.
They need help now. Please help them.
Organizer
Andrea Morrow
Organizer
New Haven, CT
