The Franklin News-Post
P. O. Box 250
310 Main Street, SW
Rocky Mount, Virginia 24151
540-483-5113
Fax: 540-483-8013
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| Local couple shares financial woes to reach out to others |
Staff Photo by Joel Turner:
Ronnie Campbell and his wife, Pamela, are in danger of losing their house on Edwardsville Road. |
Monday, December 14, 2009
By JOEL TURNER - Staff Writer
The past year has been a financial and personal nightmare for Ronnie and Pamela Campbell.
They have decided to share their story publicly because they believe that "the struggles we're going through will help others realize they are not alone in this fight."
The Franklin County couple is in danger of losing their home on Edwardsville Road soon because they are in a financial bind.
"If we lose this home, we have nowhere to go," Pamela said. "We can't afford rent. Where do we go?"
Franklin County has no shelters for homeless people.
Ronnie, a long-haul truck driver for 30 years, became ill, had quadruple bypass surgery and lost his job last summer.
Doctors told Ronnie, 60, that his health is so bad that he can longer work.
For five months, he has been struggling to get approved for disability payments under Social Security. But his application for disability has been tied up in the federal bureaucracy.
For more than six months, Ronnie has had no income.
Pamela is on disability because she has a ruptured and degenerative disc in her back, arthritis and other ailments.
She is in constant pain, but goes without medication because the couple can't afford health insurance.
Pamela receives $1,100 a month in disability, the only source of income for the couple.
"We're living on $1,100 a month," she said. It is the couple's only income for house mortgage payments, food, clothes, gasoline, utility bills and all other expenses.
The Campbells' dilemma is a story of the struggles and many sacrifices they are making to try to save their home.
Pamela said the efforts range "from selling off everything we can to me trying to find a part-time job to make ends meet."
The couple is working with their mortgage company, trying to prevent foreclosure on their home.
They have sought help from several agencies and organizations to help save their home, but they have found no help so far.
"We've even called our congressman (Tom Perriello) to
see if he could push (my husband) getting his disability approved," Pamela said.
Perriello has written to the Veterans Administration Hospitals asking them to release Ronnie's medical records to the Social Security Administration.
Ronnie served 4 1/2 years in the Air Force. His bypass surgery was performed at a Veterans Administration hospital in North Carolina,
"Everything is set on a timetable and our time is running out," Pamela said.
If the couple's financial struggles were not enough, they have lost three close family members, including Pamela's father, to heart disease and cancer during the past year.
Her father was among the soldiers who raised the United States flag on Iwo Jima during World War II. The couple has a photograph of the flag raising in their home.
Despite their hardships during the past year, the Campbells do not have self pity. They said they realize that many people are experiencing similar struggles during these hard economic times.
Pamela said the couple can avoid losing their home if her husband is approved soon for disability.
"He would receive his back payments, and we could pay up the mortgage," she said.
But the couple is afraid that the mortgage company won't wait until his disability is approved. |
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