money need for down on luck older guy

*** DRAFT *** in process of getting thoughts to paper .... will continue to edit for proper flow and language ......

(yes, right now this is mostly ramblings of a stressed and panicked sole!)

No one will ever know, as long as we live how to answer particular questions. There will always be an element of doubt or ambiguity in an assessment of a key situation. There have been moments in the past where you make a decision and the jury is still out on its wisdom. So too, there will be moments in the future when you are obliged to wrestle with tricky issues. No one can be completely sure that you're getting it right, but nor can you, or anyone, be sure you are getting it wrong. Do the best you can for now, then move on.

Good people put in a difficult situation - our hopes & dreams for our golden years vanished .... similar to people

who experienced hurricane Katrina, Ike or even 9/11. People not given a choice, life tragedies will happen. Those

that survive bad events with their life most likely need help of some kind. So how

do we now deal with it and go on? Depends on the depth and severity of each event of course. . All those millions going to political campaigns, millions

given for Katrina were wasted, now billions for "fat cat" bail out of their screw ups, and millions provided to help children

& people in other countries .............Geeesh, I so hope this gets to people who care about directly helping regular folks here in America

This is our personal story and for us it is a crisis.

This is going to be long, a lot of reading ... but want to detail as best possible and then you can decide to do

with the information as you please. Hopefully your compassion will be ignited to send money. That is really all

Dave needs at this point in time. He has capable doctors and therapists to get him back to best as he can be.

Family has put forth as much as they can, but there is no one in Dave's family that has resources in today's

economy to help more than they already have.

After 16 years with the fire department, volunteer fire fighter and captain, and 20 years with an ambulance EMT service,

- the ambulance company was sold without providing retirement nor medical for those that lost their jobs due to the sale.

Dave had been pushed out just prior to the sale to make the company's balance sheet look better for a new owner.

Dave then had a stroke which subsequently exhausted all of our savings. The company owner had promised repeatedly

over the years to a select few that had been with him almost from the beginning, that if he ever sold the company, Dave

would be "taken care of" regarding a lump sum towards retirement. Dave and only a couple others were asked and they did work without

pay during the early years and lean times for this man. Dave had a young family to support but stood by him and helped without

pay. Dave even worked on this guy's mother's house and repaired his wife's truck and on and on and on. What does

he get for all those years and dedication ? SQUAT ! NADA ! Nothing! Not one thin dime after the company was

sold. A man is only as good as his promise ..... that man has left a lot of people in his wake that have no respect for

him at all. I rant and digress - sorry, but it is so frustrating to be left with nothing during one's later years. NOTE TO self: Add a pic of Stark Ambulance here and pic of Dave & Ron at Daytona together - of course went in & used out RV

Picture caption ....Dave often volunteered to work Emergency Fire at Nascar races. After decades of hard work

and devotion and then suddenly left with nothing to show for it except huge medical bills and threat of loosing even the roof over his head.

Dave is now 58 with nothing to show from his life and has to worry about how to pay for dog food. No one ever said life is

fair, but, dang this is really rough and goes beyond simple bad luck.

So how much in total is needed? The goal has been set at $152,126. Celebrate!

Will create a spot here also to show a graphic of how we're doing. And, give THANKS to those who are donating. If you do

no want your name posted, be sure to state so in note field of your donation.

This will cover Dave's medical bills, on-going

medications and pay down the mortgage so that his Social Security amount will be barely enough to stay alive on.

Makes no sense to loose home when the mortgage is about the same or lower per month as rent would be. And by-the-way, our home is

NOT one of those so-called "sub-prime" mortgages nor a variable rate. This home is not part of the government "Bail out program, although our house value is affected just like everyone else's. We put a large down-payment on it, have a good interest rate, no PMI, on a 30 year

fixed and have had this home for many years. In fact, our payment is lower than it would cost to rent a comparable place. Our situation is the result of a drunk destroying his company, making promises not kept which caused Dave to be out of work with no insurance. Then Dave had his stroke and

the medical bills wiped out our retirement savings and Dave's ability to work.

To just exist to this point, Dave has already sold his truck, tools, household items and is maxing out credit cards.

Now preparing to sell anything and everything that is left just to buy food and keep the heat on. His Disability payment

is $55 over to qualify for food stamps or Energy Assistance. Can't survive on disability alone these days.

Nobody seems to have any "extra" money, the economy is awful at the moment. But, this is something I'm compelled to at

least try.

ANY amount you can pass on - please try. Then God forbid a similar disaster hits you in the future, hopefully

your previous good deed will be returned at your time of need. We ask that you remember that old golden rule = "Do unto others as you would have them do to you"

We will post to sell everything we have that is not essential to sustain life. We MUST raise funds to keep our home, heat it and

finish paying Dave's medical expenses. If you are in a position to gift money ;(don't want to buy anything) If you would prefer to

just contribute funds to Dave's dilemma out of the goodness of your generous heart .... of course we will accept. Simply click on

the "Make a Donation" button on this page. Or, you can go to your paypal account and do a "Send money" transaction, and do

please type a note in the memo/note field ....... something like 'Do NOT ship any items - this is a financial gift to help'

If one good thing came out of this, Dave's stroke erased the brain cells for his smoking addiction. Yeeehaw!, not only

has he quit smoking, but he also has no desire whatsoever to start again - not even one!

NOTE: To those who might think we are a target to scam : We believe to the core of our sole that most all people are basically good.

But ... we are also well aware of the fact that there are a small few who are dishonest. These few low lifes seek to rip-off every one else.

Rest assured we are not naive and will NOT tolerate scam artists. Any and all inappropriate behavior (including simple rudeness) will be reported and exposed.

We've been told (after just doing what we do) that we are honest and generous. Apparently we've been too generous and

now do not have enough to care for ourselves. Yeah, dumb, but that is now what has happened. We have practiced pay it

forward, NEVER thinking or realizing that we might need to be the ones needing help. Now as painful as it is - it is Dave's

turn - must ask for help. We ask that you remember that old golden rule = "Do unto others as you would have them do to you"

As soon as bills caught up, this plea will come down off the web AND if we collected too much, you can trust that we

will use that overage to 'pay if forward' again directly to someone else who is in desperate need of help. We will not & have

never sent to the large charitable organizations because we have always felt that too much does not get dispersed nor get in

to the hands of the people who need it. Too much of that is either wasted or gets shuffled in to administrative pockets. So

we have always just given directly to or directly helped wherever possible the actual people or event affected.

Rest assured, we guarantee that we will pay it forward again if or whenever we are able.

I hate to have to say that $5.00 should be the smallest amount BECAUSE there is an electronic transaction fee that gets

deducted. So just $1 almost ALL of it goes to the credit card processing - Dave would only get a few pennies - doesn't

help Dave, just puts very high percentage to the bank's account and not Dave's

We ask that you remember that old golden rule = "Do unto others as you would have them do to you"

To self ........ add spot to enable payments to sell off household items (MISC) being posted to Craigslist