Change for a Dollar – 12/16/2013

Change for a Dollar received a request for some assistance directly from a family of seven.  The father works seasonal work and the mother was currently out of work waiting to be called back as soon as business picks up at the construction company where she works.  They initially had a need for assistance with rent but got some family to help with that but were still in danger of having their electric shut off.  Change for a Dollar was able to step in and prevent the electric from being cut off by paying the current bill.

Amount $158

Change for a Dollar – 12/15/2013

Change for a Dollar received a request from ARHS for a family that is a single Mom and high school age son.  The family recently had to move as a result of a divorce and was in need of some essential items for the home.  The mother works part time for the school district and was doing her best to provide for her son and pay the bills.  Their current needs for the home was for some basic bedding items.  Change for a Dollar provided those items for her.  Additionally, the young man is in the ROTC program at school and his mom did not have the monies to pay the necessary annual fees for the program.  Change for a Dollar stepped in and paid his fees for the year as well as purchased some items for his uniform.

Amount $65 + $88

Change for a Dollar – 12/9/2013

Change for a Dollar received a request from an ARC owner and her daughter "M" to help a woman suffering from breast cancer.  "M" works with this woman who is a single mom and also has another son who is very ill and requires surgery in the near future.  She works part time and gets very little financial support for her son.  She also has no health insurance but thankfully is in a program at MUSC that is providing treatment for the cancer.  She also must pay for prescriptions out of pocket that are about $400 per month.  The woman remains very upbeat in spite of her circumstances and the Change for a Dollar team is working to help her and her son in other ways.  When asked what her biggest need was at the moment she asked for help with groceries as she indicated she is not eligible for an EBT card.  Change for a dollar gave her $100 in Bi Lo gift cards and is exploring the possibility of helping with the prescriptions. She was very appreciative of the gifts.

Amount $100 +

Change for a Dollar – 12/9/2013

Change for a Dollar received a request from "C"  a gentlemen who is an ARC owner to help a single Mom within the community.  He frequents a local restaurant in Knightsville and often sees the same server whom he has talked with on several occasions.  It turns out she works several part time jobs and has two children, one in elementary and one in middle school.  He says she has always been pleasant and upbeat and she never complained about her situation and wasn’t asking for help.  However, he discovered in his conversations with her that she recently had to sell a college text book to help pay some bills.  He approached us and asked if we could help out this young mother at this time of year.  Change for a Dollar helped pay her electric bill.  A payment was made to her account on Monday.  She was very appreciative of the gift.

Amount $100

Change for a Dollar – 12/9/2013

Change for a Dollar received a request from Ashley Ridge High School regarding one of their part time workers.  A gentleman who works in the high school recently had to take in two of his grandchildren and provide them with care.  On an already tight budget this very sweet family had their resources stretched beyond their means.  Ashley Ridge Church is working with the family trying to get them connected resources within the community.  In the meantime Change for a Dollar helped pay some of the bills, specifically their electric bill.  A payment was made to his account on Monday.

Amount $100

Change for a Dollar – 12/1/2013

An ARC owner, S works with a man who is part of the East Cooper Baptist Church.  This fellow's men’s group from the church is sponsoring a family for Christmas and are giving the family toys and gifts for the children.  S suggested we join efforts with the East Cooper Baptist Church and help the mother of this family with some gift cards to Bi Lo so there will be ample food for Christmas day as well as the gifts for the children.  Change for a Dollar gave S Bi Lo cards to be added to the gift package.

Amount $100

Change for a Dollar – 11/25/2013

A patient came to Medical Outreach Clinic who was looking for assistance with prescriptions.  The clinic is not a dispensing pharmacy and was unable to help with the prescriptions.  The woman currently had insurance but was losing it the months to come as she was on unpaid disability from work and within the next few months her insurance would be terminated as would her employment.  She had applied for Social Security disability but in the meantime was unable to make the copays on her prescriptions.  Change for a Dollar partnered with Guerin’s pharmacy in Summerville to help transfer her prescriptions and Change for a Dollar paid up to $100 of her copays to help her out.

Amount $100

Change for a Dollar – 11/25/2013

T, a single mom initially asked for some help with her rent as she was facing eviction due to being unemployed.  She had to quit work as her baby sitter was less than reliable, her two year old wandered off as the sitter fell asleep on the job.  Thankfully her mother stepped in and was able to help with the rent.  She was also behind with her SCE&G bill and worked out a payment plan with them but needed $125 to start the plan.  Change for a Dollar paid the utility payment and T was hopeful of getting some seasonal work and a more reliable babysitter.

Amount $125

Change for a Dollar – 11/22/2013

E, a Knightsville single mom with two kids works as a server in a restaurant.  She lives in subsidized housing and recently was recertified as a result of getting a job.  As a result of being employed she now had to contribute to the rent and pay utilities per the recertification.   While she had been able to pay the bills with her income so far, she had a few slow weeks as a result of the fair being in town and has fallen behind a bit.  She has been ensured by her employer that with the holidays approaching the business as well as her income should pick up.  Change for a Dollar helped pay her past due rent with $150 and she still had a small balance due plus late fees but the rental company said they would waive the fees if the balance due of $10 was paid.  Erica committed to pay the remaining balance.

Amount $150

Change for a Dollar – 11/22/2013

J, an Ashley Ridge Owner asked for assistance to help the families of the Hampton Oaks apartments fire last week in N Charleston.  Thirteen families have been displaced as a result of the fire and were in need of “everything”.  J has a relationship with the Charleston Apartment Association who was asking for assistance from the community for the families in need.  Change for a Dollar was able to assist by providing five gift cards to Bi-Lo for food for the families.  J delivered the gift cards to the Association for distribution.

Amount $125

Change for a Dollar – 11/22/2013

M, a young pregnant woman with an elementary school child, whose husband was arrested for driving with a suspended license.  The husband had to do a 90 day jail sentence and is due for release mid-December.  The husband had a job and will still have it upon release.  We spoke with his employer who provides employment for former inmates.  The employer stated the husband was a good worker but had made some bad decisions but he felt he had potential.  The family fell behind on the rent as a result of the husband’s incarceration and was looking for assistance with that.  In speaking with the employer it turns out the employer paid the rent but he indicated the family had other needs such as food and utility payments.  Change for a Dollar was unable to pay the large deposit, late fees and arrears on the utility bills but was able to assist with providing some gift cards to Bi-Lo for food for the family.

Amount $100

Change for a Dollar – 11/7/2013

N, a pregnant woman living with her fiancé, who is on disability, was in danger of her lights being turned off.  She is currently unemployed and without transportation but was hopeful of securing a job nearby in Summerville that she could walk too.  She had fallen behind in her payments to SCE&G and had come up against some dead ends in trying to get assistance.  SCE&G worked out a deferred payment plan for her but it required a $167 deposit to keep her service form being disconnected.  Change for a Dollar paid the deposit and she felt going forward she would be able to make the minimum payments required on the deferred payment plan.

Total Amount: $167

Change for a Dollar – 10/28/2013

Medical Outreach Clinic of Summerville (MOCS) is free medical in Summerville which serves the poor and uninsured of the community.  This month MOCS saw two patients who had difficulty paying for their prescriptions.  Change for a Dollar assisted in those two cases.  Guerin’s Pharmacy in Summerville partners with Ashley Ridge Church/ Change for a Dollar and MOCS in helping provide prescriptions to those in need.

One of the patients was a 23 yr. old young man who suffers from schizophrenia who was just released from jail after serving a three year sentence.  He was given a medication upon his release but he had run out and had not yet been approved for Medicaid.  Change for a Dollar paid for his prescription to cover him until Medicaid and prescription assistance kicks in.

The second patient was an older single woman on disability with Medicare whose disability causes her to take a combination of 14 different medications.  Her Medicare Part D insurance had reached its limit and she was in the gap period where Obama care was to fill the gap but did not cover everything.  While MOCS could not serve her because she had insurance Change for a Dollar helped pay for four of her outstanding prescriptions enabling her to have all the medications she needed to help manage her disabilities.

Total paid to Guerin’s $150

Change for a Dollar – 10/27/2013

D, an ARC owner, has taken in a homeless family of four.  The husband lost his job and their car was impounded for driving with no insurance.  The wife continues to work but is seven months pregnant and they do not make enough to survive on their own.  They were evicted from their apartment in D’s neighborhood.  There are two very young children (girls) in the family.  One is preschool and one elementary school.  The additional four mouths to feed has put a big strain on D’s budget and the children only have summer clothes.   We helped D with some Target gift cards ($30) to purchase warm shoes/sneakers for the school aged child as all she has is sandals.  Also some cash ($170) and food cards to Bi Lo ($50) to help with the food bills.  Additionally, working with D we have been getting the family into the “system” for food stamps, Medicaid, etc.  The family unit struggles to live effectively but given the children involved we are doing what we can to keep them in a safe and wholesome environment.

Total Amount: $250

Change for a Dollar – 10/10/2013

S, a 41 year old widow was in jeopardy of her electric being shut off because her SCEG account was in arrears.  A shut off would result in a requirement to a pay a large deposit plus the full past due in order to restore electric service.  She lives in a double wide trailer off of 78 by Lincolnville which she owns and shares expenses with a roommate.  She lost her job because of excessive problems with her car which eventually totally failed her and she couldn’t get to work.  She has been seeking local employment that she can ride a bicycle to and her roommate in the meantime has been picking up some of the slack however they are falling behind in the bills.  She recently had a job interview that she is hopeful she will get.  SCEG indicated too her that there is a current balance due of $263 .  She called on the 10^th to get a minimum payment due to prevent shut off which was $200.  Change for a Dollar helped pay the minimum by making a payment to her account to prevent the shut off and hold her over until she gets another job.

Amount: $200

Change for a Dollar – 10/7/2013

J, a single mom with 6 six kids who is a cancer survivor, was in jeopardy of being evicted. Due to her illness she fell behind in her bills when Medicaid limited the funding of her health care.  We were contacted by a counselor from Fort Dorchester elementary school that the family has one child who just started college, mother herself was finishing up some additional classes to help in advancing herself, and the other kids in Ft Dorchester were well behaved and appears that they are doing well in school.  She indicated it was a good family who fell on hard times due to illness.  She needed $855 to prevent from being evicted - we indicated we could not do it all, maybe $500 to $600.  The counselor was going to reach out to another church and/or take up a collection at school.  As it turned out the other church was coming up with the $355 and Change for a Dollar would do the $500.  The school was very appreciative as they felt family was definitely deserving.  ARC made a payment to the property management company in the amount of $500 in her name.

Amount: $500

Change for a Dollar – 9/30/2013

J, is a 29 year old diabetic patient of the Medical Outreach Clinic of Summerville (MOCS), who is uninsured and unemployed is insulin dependent.  His diabetes has been unchecked for some time as he had not seen a doctor and could not afford his medication.  His type of insulin was out of stock at the clinic and he had no funds to get a prescription filled at a local pharmacy.  MOCS was able to get him enrolled in a pharmaceutical company’s prescription assistance program but that takes several weeks to kick in.  Change for a dollar has partnered with Guerin’s Pharmacy in Summerville to provide the insulin for this patient, at cost, until the prescription assistance becomes available within the next few weeks.

Amount: $200

Change for a Dollar – 9/27/2013

D, a local 23 year old female Iraqi war vet who has been out of the military and essentially homeless for the past six months.  She was being assisted by another Gulf War disabled vet who helps vets in need.  An owner of ARC who works for Job Corp has been working with her to get her job training and education.  He has managed to get her placed in a training program for Certified Nursing Assistant at a NC school.  Her VA benefits have not yet kicked in and she had no money to provide for herself.  She was scheduled to be enrolled on a Tuesday morning but as of the Thursday prior she no longer had a place to stay, had nowhere to go nor any funds to provide for herself.  Change for a Dollar was able to put her up in a local motel for four nights and provided her with a gift certificate to Cracker Barrel to be able to get meals until her bus ride to school on Tuesday morning.

Amounts: $258 + $100

 

Change for a Dollar – 9/17/2013

A young Christian couple, wife is 8 months pregnant who works in Summerville (they live in West Ashley), recently lost their home in a fire from a lightning strike.  While they are both employed at the moment they have nothing (they lost everything in the fire – what the fire and smoke didn’t destroy the water damage did) and are waiting on the insurance claim.  We helped them out with a $100 gift card to Target, given anonymously saying “because God loves you here is a little something to help out in these difficult times”.   They can use the card to purchase some of the essentials, clothes, toiletries etc. until they get their life back in order.

Amount: $100

Change for a Dollar – 9/19/2013

M, a 40 something year old homeless man, suffers from a degenerative bone disorder (fragile bone syndrome) currently living in a tent in the woods off Trolley Rd in Summerville.  Recently suffered a broken leg and has been out of work – had to leave “friend’s” house since unable to contribute to rent.  He is now out of the cast and is scheduled for surgery next week at MUSC to add rod to leg to help strengthen it from further fractures.  Right leg has been fractured ~ 15 times over course of his life. He had had other fractures as well.  He hangs out at Dorchester library all day and eats around that area – we got him a gift card to Bi Lo to get food / drink or necessities etc.  He hopes once recovered from surgery he will be able to get back to work – he is a mechanic and has a job opportunity at a local junk/ scrap car yard - he hopes to get in there near future.

Amount: $100