HELP! Emergency assistance needed!

Hello, my name is Sandy, I am a 70 year old single woman, with no children and no family that can help me out of this immediate crisis that I am in, so I am using go fund me as a vehicle to possibly help me out of this situation. I am attempting to raise funds to keep my electricity from being disconnected. It’s a very, very long story, and I hope you’ll take the time to read it to the end, but the short of it is that if I can’t come up with $7,655.30 by August 1st of this year, my lights will be turned off and I will not be able to get them turned back on for a very long time. With this Summer heat, it will be really difficult to survive, so please keep reading, you’ll see this is not a scam and I’m willing to do all that I can for myself, and not just sit on my butt and ask for help…..you’ll see, keep reading!

During the original Covid 19 pandemic, there were hundreds of Entergy customers that did not receive their bills on a consistent basis, because even Entergy’s workforce was impacted by the virus. Often times the bills were so high by the time the customers received them, that there was no way they could get them paid. I sought help from the council on aging and that was confirmed by the person that was helping me, I wasn’t the only one in this predicament. The pandemic caused thousands of people to lose their incomes thus making it even harder to catch up on their bills.

I had been diagnosed with stage 4 metastatic breast cancer in my bones (my spine, ribs, sternum, several vertebrae, etc) in 2019 at the age of 65. That was about two years before the pandemic, and I was already forced to cut back on certain aspects of my business for health reasons. At the time I was an independent upholsterer but because of the nature of my cancer, I had to give up working on large pieces of furniture because I didn’t have the ability to handle heavy pieces any longer, and also due to severe damage to both of my shoulders caused by three serious falls I’d taken.

I reached out to top executives of Entergy for help, and they graciously made payment arrangements for me. I had to pay my regular bills, which are abnormally and extremely high

( and we can’t find out why), plus I had to tack on payment fees of $250 per month, so my bills were often in the $700’s to $800’s a month range, for one person living in a house.

I had to totally give up my line of business two years ago which left me living off of $1,385 SS each month and other small jobs I could bring in, but it still wasn’t enough to pay this huge debt and It didn’t take long for my debt to Entergy to grow to over $8,200.

Entergy has been very patient and accommodating in terms of working with me for as long as they have, it has been three years now. Recently tho, I missed another payment on time because I didn’t get the funds by the due date and I lost the privilege of the payment plan. This past week I received a notice that my lights were due for cut off immediately, but the emergency heat crisis was keeping them on for right now, but that can change at any moment. The best they could do for me was to extend my cutoff to August 2nd. Regardless, the bottom line is that they want the bill paid in full NOW in order to keep my lights from being disconnected. My time has run out and I have no means to pay this bill.

I currently have $3 to my name, but I can’t go anywhere right now anyway because I have Covid, so I don’t need gas money right now……and let me assure you, I’m ok with that, because my needs are met and that’s all I care about. And I get along just fine! I’m very blessed, and I’m not too proud to utilize the local community programs that are out there to help people. There is no reason for anyone to go hungry in Tangipahoa Parish because we have some of the most incredible food banks and other food services out there available to anyone that needs it and is not too proud to accept it. I am not at all living without my needs being met, I just can’t pay this outrageous light bill!! But even this is just a temporary situation, this too shall pass!!

I am now 70 years old, and was recently diagnosed with new Bone Mets now in both hip bones and also in the right femur. I’m not looking for pity, because as I said, I’m very blessed. There are many people much worse off than I am and I am grateful that I can still function and take care of myself. My condition is not a life sentence, necessarily. I have a wonderful oncologist in Covington at Mary Bird Perkins, Dr Jay (Jack) Saux and his team. With the help of God, and with my doctor’s expertise in this field he has kept my cancer at bay for five years. There is no cure for this cancer, but with proper treatment it can be held at bay for many years. I also have a wonderful orthopedic specialist, Dr. ROC Hontas that is part of my care team that has a large part to play in my success with this latest diagnosis in the femur. I have a positive outlook in believing I’ll survive this for many more years to come. So this is why I say I am not looking for sympathy, I’m simply explaining why it is difficult for me to do this alone.

Any funds donated to my cause will remain in my gofundme account until August 1st. I will offer what I have raised and ask for an extension. If they are not willing to take that payment and insist on turning out my lights if I can’t produce the full amount due, then I make this promise to each of you that may be driven to donate to this cause: Your donations will be returned to you immediately so that you might be able to help someone else. I have no intentions of keeping your donations if they cannot be used for what they were intended! I’m not looking for a hand OUT, just a hand UP!

I have just a little over a week to raise enough money to pay this bill or at least have something to bargain with. It is not easy to have to ask for help, I hate it with a passion and I find it embarrassing to say the least, but I don’t have any other choice at this time, except to ask for help!! I thank you in advance for taking the time to read my request for assistance, and for any consideration you may give to donate to this cause. I will keep you posted as to what develops, as well, you can visit this post as often as you wish to see my progress.

Once again, I thank you from the bottom of my heart!

Sandy Mclemore