Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, November 25, 1995 TAG: 9511260004
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: BETSY BIESENBACH STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
When that day came, however, her infant son was seriously ill, and she was with him at the University of Virginia Medical Center in Charlottesville.
The notice came in November, due in full. Dannie McLain, who screens applicants for emergency financial assistance for Roanoke Area Ministries, said the power company's policy is to allow people to make arrangements for paying past-due bills, but the agreements are expected to be kept.
Although the bill was for less than $70, Melody was unemployed at the time and didn't have the money. She went to RAM for help. At first, she said, she was reluctant to apply.
"I knew there were people who needed it more than I did," she said. But with a grant from the emergency financial assistance program, which receives money from the Good Neighbors Fund, she was able to pay her bill.
She also started a new job that month, which, with child support from the baby's father, will provide enough income for them both. The baby has been ill since the day he was born, Melody said, but he is insured, so his medical bills shouldn't be a burden.
At age 21, Melody has responsibilities most people her age do not. She was laid off from work last spring, and if she had wanted to, she said, she could have gone on Aid to Families with Dependent Children.
"But I don't want to do that," she said. "I feel it's a trap. I don't think it helps you." Her mother would have taken her in, she said, but "I don't think it's my mother's job to support me and my baby."
Melody has been working since she was 14. After graduating from high school, she received a one-year scholarship to a state university. She made it through a second year by working and borrowing from her mother and her boyfriend. But when the money ran out and she became pregnant, she was forced to drop out.
She returned to Roanoke to work and attend night school. She was back in class just two weeks after her baby was born, even though it had been a difficult pregnancy and the child was premature.
Her dream is to someday go to law school and become a lawyer. "I like arguing," she laughed. "I want to help people."
Checks made payable to the Good Neighbors Fund should be mailed to The Roanoke Times, P.O. Box 1951, Roanoke 24008.
Names - but not donation amounts - of contributing businesses, individuals or organizations, as well as memorial and honorific designations, will be listed in the newspaper. Those requesting that their names not be used will remain anonymous. If no preference is stated, the donor's name will be listed.
Contributions through:
Winnie Wright, in memory of Alda Wright
Mary Ellen H. Smith
M.H. Alexander
Melvin J. Strouse
Mary Chapman, in memory of Ethel V. Wood
Mary G. Bradford, in memory of Samuel Elwood Bradford
Mr. and Mrs. B.T. Fitzpatrick Jr.
Judge and Mrs. Jack B. Coulter, in memory of Joyce H. Hewitt
FashionTop
Helen and Bill Miller, in honor of Jim and Louise McCraw on their 45th wedding anniversary
Glenn and Anna Mitchell, in memory of Davis Louis Mitchell
Shirley Rehfield
Harry Bowman, in memory of Mamie Bowman
ANONYMOUS DONATIONS$120.00
SUBTOTAL$2040.00
TOTAL AS OF 11/24/95 $5365.00
by CNB