Bouquet

From Charlotte Briggs, Felch:

There has been a couple of organizations I wish to acknowledge with a big thank you for all that they did for my family. I have been out of work since March with lung fibrosis and severe asthma, I am on four inhalers a day and a nebulizer, without these I can not function.

My social worker at the VA Janice Bolander was very instrumental in getting me in touch with the right people so that we can survive this winter. I am a Air Force veteran, and have been at 0% service connection since March, which means I get no compensation. I was also a peacetime veteran so that means I was not in any type of war. There is hardly nothing out there for resources for peacetime veterans, but my social worker put me in touch with Lisa Koski in Ishpeming and she knew of a fund called 906 Warrior Relief Fund, director Richard Wood. They are a non-profit organization to help people in need. Richard Wood was instrumental in helping me with my situation.

My daughter is also diagnosed with epilepsy at 4 years old. She has only been controlled two times since that young age — once at the age of 8 for 11 months and for the past 4 1/2 years. In May of this year she had a seizure while driving and crashed her car, totalled — thank God she was not hurt. She has had three more seizures since May. The doctors keep increasing her meds each time and she is now on two medications for her seizures.

The doctors at the University of Michigan want to explore once again epilepsy surgery. Without the Warrior Relief Fund, we were going to come back from the hospital with all kinds of bills from our household and I didn’t even know how I was going to pay all of them. Warrior Relief Fund is paying all of our past due bills so that we don’t have to worry about this in the hospital stay at the U of M for my daughter. Thanks again to this Warrior Relief Fund and to Richard Wood for taking the time to help us.

We would also love to thank Just Believe out of Gwinn and U.P. Pink Power for donating to Maddy’s Benefit Hospital Stay; it was very generous of you to help us out. Thank you all for this kindly donation.

Thanks to all of our co-workers and friends who have donated to us. We will use these funds wisely for gas, food, lodging and out-of-pocket medical expenses.

Thanks to Chuck Lantz and Meridy Sundholm for being so kind as to set up the GoFundMe site and putting in for donations in our name. I can’t express the weight this has taken off of me.

I would like to thank my father and stepmom, Herbert and Carol Lantz, for not charging me rent in this difficult time.

I hope in the near future I can pay it forward, or pay it back to the people that are giving to us. God’s blessings to all of you. Merry Christmas.

Appreciated stranger’s help when car got stuck

Bouquet

From Agatha Cavaiani, Kingsford:

Another fine example of the great community we live in.

The faithful blue-green ’93 Ford Escort got stuck in a snowbank, of all places by the Iron Mountain Community Center. Oh yeah — no cat litter or shovel, but did have water and jumper cables. We rocked the ’93 Ford Escort back and forth, put ‘er in reverse and drive, but she wouldn’t budge.

I could try standing in the middle of the road, waving my arms, get run over, or hope someone would stop, and stop he did, a nice young fellow (wow) in a silver pickup truck. My guardian angel must have sent him.

Rolling down his window, he hollered: “Need help?! I’ll get my T-strap and you put ‘er in reverse and give ‘er a little gas and she’ll be out.”

I offered payment but was refused. Without getting his name, he drove off, a lesson learned the hard way, be prepared for whatever when winter driving, or any time of the year.

Now, even through my blue-green ’93 Ford Escort getting stuck, it gave me the opportunity to wish all a blessed Christmas, worship in your own way, and a prosperous New Year. Cheers!