Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
The elderly couple had kids that one of which is a Doctor. It just seemed odd to me that 4 professional kids of the the couple called Meals on Wheels to provide for their parents. I have half the money of a Doc and no siblings now and I feel I can help my parents with food. If I lost my job or they lost a lot of money I would ask Meals on Wheels for help.
I do think it is abusive to a system if able bodied people get a free lawn mowing if they own a lawn mower and can do it themselves. I mean if they contact a group to do it and they really don't need it.
However I can see a circumstance where a able bodied young couple might need a "red tent" to help them during a family emergency that might include lawn mowing or meal drops from a church or a group.
I am just against abuses of systems. At one point we were on WIC and we appreciated that. I had just given birth and both me and my husband got layed off. As soon as I got a job and he did too we stopped using the coupons. If we had been truly dire we would have used the last set but I felt that others were worse off and so I did not use the last set of coupons but threw them away leaving the money in the system for those who need it.
I am not hard hearted, just very fair minded and pragmatic.
Around here, Meals on Wheels provides prepared, nutritious meals to those who might have trouble cooking or grocery shopping for themselves, which does not equate to inability to pay. In fact, MoW's charges are tied to the recipients' income. It's more to assist people who need a little practical help, not financial assistance, and it helps keep elderly people in their own homes.
If the four "professional" adult children of the elderly couple you describe live elsewhere, have careers and families of their own, etc., it may not be possible for them to do the shopping and cooking for their parents. Thus, engaging MoW would be a very logical and good decision. Nothing to do with income.
No, it's worse than that.
The government owns Citizens.
And their motives, really, for being this harda**nosed, is that they want to get out of the homeowner's/windstorm insurance business. So they're using any excuse they can come up with to drop customers..
We accommodated them. We had a Citizen's windstorm only policy for many years on our house in Miami- this after our homeowner's insurance providers, State Farm, dumped windstorm coverage off their homeowner's insurance policies in the area we lived in after Hurricane Andrew. So we had State Farm homeowner's coverage ( sans windstorm) and Citizen's Windstorm, both with ever increasing rates and decreased coverage, and could never find any other insurance company ( even the takeout companies clamoring for a chance to cover our new house in SW Florida) interested in providing coverage.
We initially had Citizen's coverage for our house in SW Florida- it covered both windstorm and homeowner's for approximately 25% of the cost of that coverage on the house in Miami. But after the debacle over the Citizen's inspection of our house in Miami, ( where among other things, the inspector refused to look at the paperwork for our new roof presented to him, and indicated on his report that he could not determine the age of the roof, nor whether or not it was built to code), we dropped the Citizen's coverage on our new house and now have homeowner's insurance with another company. As I told our agent, we hope never to have Citizen's darken our doors again.
Last edited by Travelassie; 05-14-2014 at 03:23 PM..
That's all well and good for you Travelassie , but unless this new company that sent out solicitations ( and haven't heard from them since) those of us in older ....maybe all...mobiles, have no other choice.
Funny though, when the roof needed to be 'certified' I hired an independent inspector. He wasn't affiliated with Citizens.
Wow! Some of you sound as if all the old people should pack up and go sit on an ice floe and just drift out of sight. Some of those old people were the young people who brought you into this world and no, I don't think that fact alone deserves respect, but some of you have made some pretty severe judgments.
The lady who drives the Cadillac: From the OP I get that the church pretty much decided to cut the lawn on her property. I didn't get the impression that she came around demanding the help. But driving a Cadillac doesn't translate to "wealth". I have friend who bought a used Caddy at a really good price because the owner refused to pay to put gas in it. My friend was living in an apartment that she rented. No home ownership. And certainly not wealthy. And she needed the car to get to work and back. She was 63.
I'm 78 years old, and a retired home owner. I own this home because I worked my a$$ off to afford it and now that I'm retired, I still have to pay taxes, insurances, and upkeep. I cut my own grass. I have a kind neighbor with a snow-blower who voluntarily handles the removal. I drove my last car for 23 years. It gave up last Summer and my dtr-in-law found me a good deal so I have a "new car" in my garage. I have to pay for it. I don't spend a lot on clothes or shoes or other "fancy things". I eat well, but frugally. So, while some people may assume that because I own a home and drive a "new car" (not a Cadillac) I must be rolling in it and should refuse all offers of help in favor of paying someone to work for me.
I was a "single Mom" for many years and I learned how to stretch a buck. My kids knew that things were tight but they also knew that there would always be a meal on the table at the appropriate times and they never had to go to school naked. No one ever came to offer help then nor did I expect it.
If you resent offering help to anyone, anyone at all - old, young, single, childless - don't do it. Let them get a citation for not keeping up their property. It'll serve them right and you can sleep the sleep of the just. But whatever you do, stay out of the group that calls itself Christian, because you ain't.
Well I ain't Christian. I'm Jewish. And have taken care of people in my family - Jewish and Christian. But why the heck should I spend $$$ to take care of strangers? Why should anyone?
I'm glad your family took care of you - but why would you expect anyone in my family to take care of you? We have lots of people in my family (both my and husband's side) that have needs today. If we helped all of them 100% - we personally wouldn't have 10 cents to live on. Robyn
Citizen's will.
If you have a roof over 10 years old, it must be inspected and found to have at least 3 or 4 years of life left (don't remember which).
For some of us, there is also no other company to go to so whatever they demand, you do, or go uninsured.
We're not with Citizens. We're still with State Farm Florida. We have "30 year architectural shingles" - but I'm sure we'll get a knock on the door from State Farm perhaps 2-5 years from now about roof replacement. FWIW - if State Farm Florida drops us - we may just self-insure. Depending on what we think of Citizens at the time (all the new fly by night companies have less net worth than we do - no reason to buy insurance from companies like that). Robyn
Around here, Meals on Wheels provides prepared, nutritious meals to those who might have trouble cooking or grocery shopping for themselves, which does not equate to inability to pay. In fact, MoW's charges are tied to the recipients' income. It's more to assist people who need a little practical help, not financial assistance, and it helps keep elderly people in their own homes.
If the four "professional" adult children of the elderly couple you describe live elsewhere, have careers and families of their own, etc., it may not be possible for them to do the shopping and cooking for their parents. Thus, engaging MoW would be a very logical and good decision. Nothing to do with income.
MOWs here in my metro area is apparently totally non-need based for people 60+ - and therefore totally stupid IMO.
That's all well and good for you Travelassie , but unless this new company that sent out solicitations ( and haven't heard from them since) those of us in older ....maybe all...mobiles, have no other choice.
Funny though, when the roof needed to be 'certified' I hired an independent inspector. He wasn't affiliated with Citizens.
I'm all too well aware that there are homeowners who don't have any choice in regards to insuring their properties- as I said, we lived in an area in Miami ( Palmetto Bay) that looked to be blackballed by insurance companies other than Citizens' for homeowner's insurance. Although we had any number of letters from Citizen's takeout companies to take our Citizens' homeowner's policy on our new house in SW Florida ( I think it's called cherry-picking), they wouldn't even talk to us about insuring our house in Miami- in fact, one of their agents actually told me we should be "grateful" that Citizens' would ensure us- guess who will never get our business for the house in SW Florida?
I'm not at all surprised that those insurance take-out companies won't insure mobile homes, heck, they won't even write policies in certain parts of the state, either. They're looking to minimize their exposure, and these days homeowners to them are just liabilities if there's a potential that they may submit claims for loss, and cash cows otherwise.
I understand that Citizens' will accept the report of a licensed roofer to certify the remaining life on a roof. I was referring to the housing inspection that Citizens' undertook for many or most of its policyholders in late 2011-early 2012. They announced these inspections by letters to the homeowners, and stated in those letters that inspectors contracted by them would conduct the inspections, there was no option for the homeowner to hire his own inspector. Perhaps later inspections by Citizens' allowed the homeowner to select his own inspector, this was the case for an earlier Citizens' inspection conducted in 2008-2009.
In our subdivision there are many retired people, as we are. What I notice is professional landscapers here doing everyone's lawns. We are conservative Midwesterners, and so we do for ourselves, at least for the present. If an elderly widow is in a nice house, and is driving an old but nice care, it is possible that she lost most of her income when she became widow. It is quite possible that she needs someone to cut her grass as cheaply as possible.
I do agree that churches should assist those in need. But perhaps some churches prefer to help their members first, no matter their financial circumstances.
Well I ain't Christian. I'm Jewish. And have taken care of people in my family - Jewish and Christian. But why the heck should I spend $$$ to take care of strangers? Why should anyone?
I'm glad your family took care of you - but why would you expect anyone in my family to take care of you? We have lots of people in my family (both my and husband's side) that have needs today. If we helped all of them 100% - we personally wouldn't have 10 cents to live on. Robyn
Hold on there. Before you get your knickers in a knot, you might want to re-read my post and see if you can find where it says my family took care of me. Truth be told, I took care of them. And no, I don't expect anyone in your family to spend $$$ to take care of me. After you re-read my post, perhaps you could go back and re-read the OP, which states that volunteers were taking care of people. Volunteers doesn't usually require $$$ outlay. Volunteers implies that the people doing the work were willing participants.
I wasn't suggesting the world should take care of old people. I was trying to point out that there was a lot of judgment being heaped on the elderly lady driving a Cadillac, and the fact that her car was neither an indicator of "wealth" nor did it make her unworthy of help.
As far as not being Christian, it's simply an expression and has nothing to do with your belief. Sorry you took offense.
FTR: I paid a man $110.00 yesterday to fix a small crack in the foundation of my house. I paid him with my money. He was here for all of 25 minutes. I didn't ask him his religion.
In our subdivision there are many retired people, as we are. What I notice is professional landscapers here doing everyone's lawns. We are conservative Midwesterners, and so we do for ourselves, at least for the present. If an elderly widow is in a nice house, and is driving an old but nice care, it is possible that she lost most of her income when she became widow. It is quite possible that she needs someone to cut her grass as cheaply as possible.
I do agree that churches should assist those in need. But perhaps some churches prefer to help their members first, no matter their financial circumstances.
Nice post. And I agree that just because a person has a home and a car doesn't make them rich. I have both and Lord knows I don't qualify! But I'm grateful to be able to cut my own grass and not have to ask for a volunteer to do it for me. MOF, when I returned to my home after six months being treated for cancer, a new neighbor began to cut my grass. I had to ask her to please stop, as my doctor encouraged as much exercise as I could get.
When my son and his wife bought their first home, it was a town house in a new development. They were required to pay $20.00 a month to the builder for lawn care. That meant that once a week, a service came around and cut the grass for all the houses. The yards weren't much bigger than a postage stamp, but it meant that the homeowners didn't have to buy and store a lawn mower. Of course, the grass cutting only took place in the Summer, which in our area lasts from early May to early October, but the $20. was year-round. They were young, able=bodied and perfectly capable of mowing their little lawn, as were most of the other residents in the development. To the uninitiated, it could look like a bunch of people too lazy to do for themselves.
Far too many judgments being made based on very little information. It seems like people assume their reality is everyone's reality.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
