A Big Thank You From Dennis Cayton

[Dennis Cayton]

To All My Checker Friends:

I would like to thank each and every one of you who sent me a donation to help me out with my recent financial crisis.

As a result of your generosity, combined with the last minute and unexpected assistance from my state disability agency, I am now declaring an end to my financial crisis.

The most serious issue of my crisis was the payment of my December rent.

I am happy to report that my rent for December is now paid in full.

I am happy to report that all of my past due bills for the past 3 months are now paid in full.

I could not have accomplished this without your collective help and generosity.

At first, I was going to list the names of each and every one of you who sent me a donation. Then I became terrified of the possbility that I might forget somebody. I would feel terrible if this were to happen.

Once again, to each and every one of you who sent me a donation, I want to say:

Thank You!

I would like to provide a brief explanation of the last minute assistance I received from my state disability agency.

I had a meeting with this agency last Thursday, December 29th. Attending this meeting was my disability rights advocate, who had been doing some research on my case. Before this meeting began, she told me she found a clause in the state policy manual which can allow for emergency rental assistance for one month if it can be justified.

When my advocate brought up this proposal, the director's first answer was one of denial. With the help of her negotiating skills, during a meeting that was nearly 3 hours long, she was finally able to persuade the director to relent and approve the funds for the payment of my rent for the month of December.

I did not report on this right away because there was one more hurdle to be cleared. That hurdle was to get the approval of my landlord. During my previous meeting with my landlord, I was told in no uncertain terms that all of my past due rent money must be in their hands by December 5th, in order to avoid eviction proceedings.

All my state disability agency could do was to give them a voucher. The actual payment of my December rent would not be disbursed to my landlord until 30 days later.

Due to the fact that my landlord does not accept any federal money and has refused to accept Section 8 housing in the past, I was skeptical that they would accept any state money either. My landlord was under no legal obligation to accept this voucher.

A few days went past without hearing a word of their decision.

I was now thinking that "no news was bad news."

I was preparing myself for my eviction.

Two days ago, on Tuesday, December 4th, I heard from my landlord. She told me that they decided to accept the voucher and that I could consider my December rent as paid in full.

My crisis was over!

This turned out to be more of a miracle than I thought. My disability counselor emailed me yesterday to inform me that my landlord accepted this voucher offer with great reluctance.

I now feel like the Jimmy Stewart character during the closing moments of the Christmas film classic, It's A Wonderful Life.

I could not have made it through this crisis without the help of each and every one of you.

Once again, thank you!

The light is now shining at the end of the tunnel, which should bode well for a brighter year in 2008. As I may have mentioned before, I am also doing some private math tutoring as well. My remaining tutoring appointments for the month of December should tide me over through to the end of the year.

During last week's meeting, my state disability agency also agreed to pay for some business cards and flyers to lend further support for my tutoring business.

In addition, they have also agreed to reimburse me for my gas mileage for my tutoring appointments. All I have to do is to send in a mileage sheet twice a month. Given the cost of gasoline these days, this is like getting a raise.

Please forgive me for writing such a long message. I kept telling myself that I was going to make it short and sweet, but I was unable to restrain myself.

Once again, thank you.

God Bless You All.

And Merry Christmas!

Dennis Cayton

[tommyc]

Hi Denis, Thats great news indeed about your rent situ and hopefully now you can up-n running again with some spirit and expectation.Well done and Happy Xmas...Tommy.

[Lindus Edwards]

God bless you Dennis. Wishing you a merry Christmas and a happy and prosperous New Year.