ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1995, Roanoke Times
DATE: Monday, December 4, 1995 TAG: 9512040007
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
COLUMN: The Good Neighbors Fund
SOURCE: BETSY BIESENBACH STAFF WRITER
When Margaret Jefferson came to the Presbyterian Community Center for help with utility bills in the fall, "I left here smiling," she said. "These people here are wonderful."
Jefferson, 61, had been suffering from back pain for seven years. She kept on working, but last spring it became so severe that she had to walk backward up the hill from the bus stop to her home. Her doctors recommended an operation, so she went into the hospital in June.
Jefferson has worked at the Woolworth store at Towers Mall for 26 years. She was the first black person hired there to work in sales. Now, she is a cashier.
"I dearly love people," she said. "I enjoy the customers that come in the store."
Even when she is working, she often has to juggle paying the bills every month, but the company provides "very good medical insurance," she said, and 80 percent of her hospital bills are being paid.
Jefferson returned to work in September, but four months of time off without pay left her behind on bills for gas, water and electricity.
First, she went to Roanoke Area Ministries, where she was given money toward her gas bill from the emergency financial assistance program, which is supported by the Good Neighbors Fund. At the Community Center, money from other sources was found to pay the rest of the bills in full.
"I didn't know these organizations existed" until a nurse at the hospital told her about them, she said.
Although she is one of 13 children, only she and a brother are left, and he lives out of town. Jefferson took care of her parents until they died, and she never married.
When she thinks about her family, "it's very sad at times," she said. Her brothers and sisters were "some of my best friends on earth."
Jefferson takes her mind off her problems by buying clothes and other items for people she considers less fortunate than herself. She also has many friends and plans to spend the holidays with them.
Despite her money troubles, things are looking up, Jefferson said. She is no longer in pain, and "I'm beginning to feel like a new woman again."
While she was ill, "I was never depressed," she said. "I know God was on my side."
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 their names not be used will remain anonymous. If no preference is stated, the donor's name will be listed.
LENGTH: Medium: 55 linesby CNB