ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1995, Roanoke Times
DATE: Monday, December 11, 1995 TAG: 9512110015
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
COLUMN: the good neighbors fund
SOURCE: BETSY BIESENBACH STAFF WRITER
There are few things in this world worse than being poor, sick and alone. Dot Lindsey, 56, of Southwest Roanoke, is all of those things.
When she talks about her life, her voice breaks and tears well up in her eyes, but she quickly regains control. Although she can barely walk, she talks about the future, about getting back to work.
"It's all I've ever known," she said.
This summer, Dot, who is a diabetic, stepped on a piece of glass. Because her disease has affected the nerves in her feet, she couldn't feel it, and it worked its way to the bone and festered there. Her doctors wanted to amputate her foot, but she wouldn't let them, and the healing process has been slow.
Before her accident, she worked two part-time jobs. She was three weeks away from being hired full time at one of them, but she had to quit before she became eligible for medical benefits.
Originally from West Virginia, Dot came to Roanoke more than a decade ago looking for work. She has no family here and no one left at home.
The Presbyterian Community Center, which is supported by 22 area churches, provides food, clothing, medical care and sometimes just a listening ear to its clients. Case workers there also help screen applicants and distribute funds from Roanoke Area Ministries' emergency financial assistance program.
The center has become a haven for Lindsey, who, when she is feeling sick and is bedridden, sometimes doesn't see another person for days on end.
This fall, when her debts began to pile up, Lindsey came to the center and received emergency help in paying her telephone and electric bills. Most of the money for the program is raised through the Good Neighbors Fund, which is sponsored by The Roanoke Times.
She also received a grant from Total Action Against Poverty, food stamps and a general relief check. Because she has not been disabled for an entire year, her application for Supplemental Security Income has been denied.
It was hard to ask for help, Lindsey said. She has always been self-sufficient and was financially comfortable when she was working. In West Virginia, she kept a garden and grew her own food. At the age of 40, she put herself through three years of college, studying nursing and business management.
"I don't like living off everybody else," she said.
Lindsey said she didn't know how she was going to pay the rent after the TAP grant ran out. In November, she was being threatened by collection agencies for her medical bills, and her car, the only new car she has ever owned, was about to be repossessed.
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.
LENGTH: Medium: 59 linesby CNB