Locals rescue homeless woman (social media actually helps)

[Undertoad]

So a couple of local women noticed a sign on an SUV in a covered Target parking lot about a mile up the road from me.



They found a woman living out of that SUV. After reaching out to her with some minor help, they talked to the cops, who just acknowledged her and said, yeah, one of Upper Merion's homeless...

They talked to her further, and learned that she wasn't crazy, just became overwhelmed. 69 years old, house foreclosed after multiple illnesses, remaining family unhelpful or worse, burdened/blessed with two dogs, and left with continuing health problems which made her rather immobile. She would get one shower a month when she could afford a night at the local Motel 6.

When she was nice to her helpers, who told her firmly that she had to accept whatever help they came back with, they created a GoFundMe to pay for the Motel 6, and went on nextdoor.com to tell the story.

Nextdoor is like Facebook for locals; so the story went to the surrounding neighborhoods, and everyone was shocked to hear the whole thing.

Since I work a later shift, I was the first one to read the story. The following is not virtue signalling. They said a night at the Motel 6 was $70, so that's what I gave. Since this happened only a mile from me, in a Target parking lot where I regularly park, there was no way I could just close the GoFundMe page without losing my very humanity. Now that I knew the story, I had to get her a bed and shower, if only for one night.

By the next day, there was proof that I was not unique: in fact, everybody else who read the story felt the same way. $2000. Three days later, $6000. Now it's over $25000.

Two days after the word got out, an army descended on the car. It reeked, of course, with two dogs and an unwashed human living in it. They took everything out, replaced all her clothes, had the car detailed, fixed, inspected and fueled. They put her up at the Motel 6; in fact once they mentioned the Motel 6, people were calling the Motel 6 to pay for her room.

Now it's three weeks, and they have her set up in an apartment, with the dogs, and just about everything she needs to get a decent life back. story in local Norristown paper/website (not paywall'd)