ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1995, Roanoke Times
DATE: Sunday, December 31, 1995 TAG: 9601020075
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B-1 EDITION: METRO
COLUMN: The good neighbors fund
SOURCE: BETSY BIESENBACH STAFF WRITER
Brooke (not her real name) started working at age 15. She was so eager to get out into the world and on her own that she quit school two months before graduation and got married.
The marriage didn't last, but she spent the next 10 years enjoying her youth. When she wasn't working, she liked to go to movies, dance and watch the races at the Martinsville Speedway.
Last year, everything changed. She had an unplanned pregnancy and is now a single mother of twins; she is tied down by responsibility and lives in poverty.
When she was younger, Brooke said, she never really thought about her future, "but I never imagined I'd be living in the projects."
In addition to subsidized housing, Brooke receives food stamps, is enrolled in the Women, Infants and Children feeding program, and the children receive Medicaid. Her own coverage ended six months after they were born.
Soon, they will be dropped from the program, too. Their father is supposed to provide insurance through his employer, but he recently quit his job. He also was ordered to pay child support, but rarely does. Even when Brooke doesn't get the money, the award counts toward her income and makes her ineligible for Aid to Families with Dependent Children.
"It's rough being a single mom," she said.
During a routine checkup after the twins' birth, Brooke's doctor found some abnormal tissue that appeared to be pre-cancerous . When the test was repeated a few months later, the results were the same. Her doctor advised her to have another, more intensive test. But by that time, her Medicaid coverage had run out, and the test cost $400, money she didn't have.
The Roanoke Health Department arranged for her to have the test for $100, but the money had to be paid up front, and it was still more than she could scrape together.
Brooke had decided not to have the test, but the nurses at the Health Department "pestered me and pestered me" until she agreed
They suggested she go to Roanoke Area Ministries for help. There, she was given the money to pay for the test through the agency's emergency financial assistance program.
"That was hard. I don't like to ask for help," she said. "[Sometimes] I just sit and cry and pull my hair out. I wonder how I'm going to make it."
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: 56 linesby CNB