Mark De La Gardie
A VET - but I wasn’t prepared to be abandoned.
Fri Mar 5 14:15:00 2004
64.140.158.195

-------- Original Message --------
Subject: soon to be homeless
Date: Fri, 5 Mar 2004 02:01:28 -0700
From: Mark De La Gardie markd@extremezone.com
To: apfn@apfn.org


I’m an Army vet with 3 Honorable discharges, last year I terminated my employment with a aircraft engine contractor whom had a Army contract for helicopter engines, with over 23 years in the industry, I felt that the quality of the product was not up to spec. anyway that’s not why I'm writing, but it is a factor.

Currently I am about to loose my home, I filed for chapter 13 in an attempt to save my home and re-organize my debt, my wife was declared un-able to return to her post office job she held for 24 years and is in the god awful social security/D.E.S process for her disability, I cant find a decent job, the V.A. told me they had no program to assist me in saving my home, but if I was to become homeless and addicted to drugs they could assist.

Last July we asked our utilities for assistance for low income, and in late August SRP cut my power, and we've been without ever since.

The law firm representing the mortgage company has filed and won an appeal that I shouldn’t be allowed to keep my home under chapter 13 re-origination because I had little equity in the home.

I’m not sure but I think it won’t be long before I am to receive a notice to vacate my home.

I have put in numerous resumes and applications, with no replies, its weird but I could also be getting black-balled, I don’t know.

There are other issues also involved but what I have here is a unemployed (willing to work) vet with a handicapped wife, and we are about to be homeless and nobody cares or they say "your not the only one" or "go ask the churches for help".

I would just like to understand why my wife and myself have paid almost 50 years worth of good tax monies (combined) and we are about to loose all we have worked for, yet our county has funds for immigrants to homestead, receive medical care, allowed loans for businesses, given a tax exemption for period of time, and many other benefits yet we are being treated worst than 3rd class citizens and about to be put into the streets.

A year and a half ago I'd never thought this would be happening to me, worst, I never ever asked for help before, my savings ran out, cashed in my 401K, and when I finally did, it was hard to ask for help, my ego and all that, and I pulled out my "I’m a vet" card, I’m told that it doesn’t matter, that’s the past, I don’t want to hear that, or your not entitled, and that doesn’t mean a thing, …..it did more than hurt…..

I was prepared to fight, I was prepared to be wounded, I was prepared to be captured, I was even prepared to die, but I wasn’t prepared to be abandoned.

Mark De La Gardie

markd@extremezone.com

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