
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: MONDAY, December 12, 1994                   TAG: 9412140002
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: B-1   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: BETSY BIESENBACH STAFF WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

UNOFFICIALLY DISABLED NEED OCCASIONAL HELP

Sometimes, especially when it rains, every bone in Ruby's body aches. Ruby, (not her real name), 59, was in an accident 11 years ago and hurt her knees and her back. She also gets migraine headaches.

At one time, she said, she was an assistant chef at a restaurant. But since her accident, she has had to give up the cashier, fast-food and day-care jobs she worked at most of her life. Now she is employed just a few days a week, doing baby-sitting and light housekeeping.

With a ninth-grade education, there is little else she is qualified for. Most recently, she had to quit a job as an aide at the Veterans Affairs Medical Center because of a lack of transportation.

Every two weeks she brings home $100. Food stamps put meals on the table and a fuel assistance program keeps her warm.

Ruby has applied for Supplemental Security Income payments but has been turned down twice. She cannot afford to see a doctor to be declared disabled. She is on her third try. She is too young to collect Social Security.

"Nobody but me and the Lord knows how much pain I'm in," she said. She would like to be treated for her problems, she said, but she has no debts and wants to keep it that way.

Ruby doesn't own a car and she walks everywhere. She enjoys walking, she said, but afterward she pays for it with more pain.

Although she has little enough to live on herself, Ruby let a homeless friend live with her this summer. The friend ran up the telephone and electric bills, leaving Ruby to pay them.

The added expense wrecked her tight budget, Ruby said, so, in September, she came to Roanoke Area Ministries for help. She was given $50 toward her utility bills from the Emergency Financial Assistance program, which is supported by the Good Neighbors Fund.

"There are people out there who are really in need" and the fund is a big help, she said.

Despite her problems, "I've been blessed," she said. Her landlord allows her to pay $100 a month for an apartment he keeps in good condition.

"I was lucky to find him," she said.

In her spare time, she is active in her church. Going to services makes her feel better, she said.

"If you've got a burden on your shoulders, it makes you feel like your burden has been lifted."

by CNB