What if this Happened to You?

I have nightmares. Many of them revolve around me losing my home to foreclosure, of having to move out with nowhere to go. I tremble and thrash around in my bed as I see in my dream the doors fly open and my terrified cats escape outside into the woods. I know their lives will come to an abrupt end without my care and protection. They can’t fend for themselves and now I can’t either.

I met a lady on Facebook named Barbara who has 5 cats. A long while ago she baked me some bread and made some granola for me as a “just because” gift. I always thought of her as a kind person, but I also knew times were tough for her.

©Barbara Hayes.

She recently left a comment on my Facebook status message that really shook me up. She said she was about to become homeless in a little over a week. Her house had been foreclosed and the bank was selling it. That the new owners legally could evict them and their cats and she had run out of ideas of how she could keep her family from being tossed out onto the streets.

My friend Mary Shafer who captains a freelance marketing consultancy and commercial copywriting shop called The Word Forge heard about Barbara’s plight and offered to help. She summed up their situation thusly:

Barbara Hayes and her husband Kenneth are in their 60s and have been married for 40 years. Like most middle-aged couples, they were hoping to be able to slow down a little to plan enjoying their retirement in their Deerfield Beach, Florida, home. But then in 2012, her husband developed a large cataract in his good eye (the bad eye has had two retinal detachments and required several lens replacement surgeries). As a reward for 12 faithful years on the job, his employer fired him when he told them he was going blind.

©Barbara Hayes.

He was already suffering health issues from a brain injury he received in 1978, when he was run over by a tow truck. Blind Services paid to have the cataract removed and the lens replaced, but by this time, he had slipped into such deep depression that he couldn't get out of bed for a year. His brain injury worsened, and he now receives disability because he can't work.

©Barbara Hayes. Ken.

Barbara is also disabled, but because she had no guidance to navigate our country's overwhelming bureaucracy, she waited too long to apply for SSI, so now she only receives $84/mo in those benefits, as well as Medicaid. Which is fortunate, because she has A-Fib, a heart problem that has required hospitalization for procedures twice in the last year. Her third hospitalization this year was to remove her gallbladder. She also suffers from arthritis, fibromyalgia and diabetes. Not surprisingly, she has consequently developed clinical depression and social anxiety disorder.

Neither of them can do much physical work, but Barbara does what she can to sustain them by baking bread. The problem is that, with all the disruptions to their lives and loss of income, they were unable to pay their mortgage and now their home has gone into foreclosure. In ten days, they will be forced from their home.

©Barbara Hayes.

It's bad enough for them, but the biggest problem is that they have five cats who have helped them stay sane and brought some small measure of happiness. And of course, there will be no apartment owner who will accept them with the cats, so they're left with either finding another house to rent, or becoming homeless, because they will not allow their own misfortune to force them to give their cats away.

©Barbara Hayes.

Anyone who's a pet parent and really loves their companion animals can understand this. I certainly do. I'm asking that you please consider giving whatever you can to help the Hayeses raise enough money for the first and last month's rental and security deposit on a house. They believe they'll be able to make it if they can just raise this money to help them bridge the gap between where they are now, and where they'll have to relocate.

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From Robin

I realize that barely a week ago I asked all of you to save my little cat rescue and Twinkle our injured kitten who needed emergency surgery. You did that for us without batting an eye. I realize, too, that it’s asking a great deal to ask for anything right now, but this is truly a crisis and these folks just don’t have any resources.

I feel a moral obligation to help them because I believe that in the United States of America we SHOULD NOT HAVE ANYONE LOSE THEIR HOME, EVER. Everyone should have a clean, safe place to live with clean water and light. Everyone deserves to have a life of dignity, not where they are treated like garbage because of their physical disability and difficulty earning a living. This could be our MOTHER or FATHER, our BROTHER or SISTER. I hope we can join together to make a positive difference in their lives.

If any of you are in the DEERFIELD BEACH, FLORIDA area and can help even run an errand in their car (since the Hayeses have no car) or if they know of any low-cost housing where they CAN have their cats, please email me and I will get the word to them. info@coveredincathair.com

©Barbara Hayes.

You can help Barbara and her family by making a donation to their fundraiser OR you can visit their Amazon.com wishlist and purchase some items to help them once they get into a new home. They just need the basics, like soap and cat food, so please feel free to do some shopping just like you’d do for yourself, but this time do it for them.

Thank you everyone. Let's help these people and their beloved kitties stay off the streets.