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7 selections of fresh vegetables
6 selections of
fresh fruits
7 varieties of
frozen meats
5 bags of
non-perishables
1 bag of paper
products and personal care items
Gifts from a Secret Pal
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With
everything going on in our lives, it can be easy to forget how much we have
to be thankful for. Many of us have an abundance of wonderful things in our
lives which we take for granted. Here at HSP, however, we are often reminded
of how lucky we are when we talk to the seniors in our Senior Citizen
Project and see just how little many of them have. One senior who truly
makes us realize how fortunate we are is Miriam.
74-year-old Miriam lives with
deprivation and poverty on a daily basis, but still looks at her life and
exuberantly asks “can you believe how blessed I am?!”
That's simply the person that Miriam
is.
A native of Downers
Grove, Miriam fondly remembers coming home from visiting relatives to find a
new pastor at her family’s church. As her family got to know the new
pastor’s family, she found herself getting along quite well with his oldest
son, Carl. Carl was a rugged boy who loved camping and canoeing. Before too
long, Miriam and Carl fell deeply in love, and were
eventually married by Carl’s father.
For years, Miriam worked as a delivery lady for a catering service, and Carl worked as a
mailman. They didn’t make a lot of money, she said, but they were happy.
Miriam still likes to tell a story about Carl’s father, whose memory was
beginning to fade at the end of his life, sitting on their couch in his
stocking cap and asking Carl, “Who’s that woman you live with who’s always
running around everywhere?” Carl laughed and responded, “You should know! You
married us!”
Carl became very ill
towards the end of his life, and Miriam spent much of her time taking care of
him. When he passed of a heart attack, she said she was emotionally burned
out from spending all of her time worrying about
the man she loved so much,
and she was glad that his suffering was
over. Carl and Miriam had three
children together, and family-oriented Miriam loves them all very much, but
sadly says that she rarely gets to see them. “I know they love me, but their
lives are too busy,” she says. Her two daughters both live in Elgin, and are
struggling financially, trying to make ends meet for their own families. Her
son lives in Omaha, and Miriam says that he has battled for much of his life
after two failed marriages. She is overcome with tears of joy, however, when
she says that he has found a woman who she thinks is The One!
Now, Miriam mostly keeps
to herself in her small apartment. She enjoys riding her stationary bike,
but has been unable to do so for some time now due
to pains in her back. Her
constant companion is her cat, Jack, who she refers to as her “little gift.”
She and Jack spend hours birdwatching and tending to her flowers. “My kitty,
my birds and my flowers are my three joys,” she says.
Despite
these little happinesses, Miriam’s
health continues to dwindle. She takes a great many pills and suffers from
irritable bowel syndrome and fibromyalgia. She says that her subsidized rent
of $182 will soon be going up, and with an income of only $943 a month, she
has very little money left over after rent, bills, utilities, and medical
expenses. She says that her bills keep going up, and she doesn’t know how she
pays all her expenses some months!
Miriam will never feel
sorry for herself, however. She is proud, and looks at the meager
possessions she has with gratefulness. She suffered a great setback
a couple of years ago when her
nearly-20-year-old car finally broke down, but after telling
some acquaintances that she didn’t know what she was going to do without
transportation, an anonymous donor from her church came forward and bought a
used car for her! She said it was like a dream come true. When asked how
much the service HSP provides for her helps her situation out she said, “how
about 1,000%! It’s so beautiful that when I tell people they just can’t
believe it.” Miriam sees the good in every situation, and we are all better
off for knowing her.
Things to Remember about Miriam:
• Miriam’s birthday is January 17, 1934.
• She enjoys watching TV and knitting.
• She loves flowers and pastel colors.
• Her income is $943 a month.
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