Have A Heart (long appeal post)

[ffritz]

Anything over US$9,000 was going to Ken & Sue, but the car was sold beforehand so it's all pretty irrelevant really now.
It was really a fantastic offer because the seller really needed the money & every penny counts for him. We told him if he managed to sell the car before the auction to take the money & nobody would bear him any ill will. Like I said I'm just glad he found a buyer.

 

[peteclaffey]

to all, last night was excellent , though we knew there was a very popular event going on the same day on the NORTH COAST we decided to push ahead anyway. The auction was due to start at 7.00pm , we waited past that time , it became apparrent that we were not going to get as many people as hoped for, a decision had to be made, we decided to have a smaller auction , in party mood leaving the more expensive lots so that we could try again next Saturday . It was a wonderful party , Sue made a very moving speech, hardly a dry eye in the house.Part of her speech was that she was very moved (as was Ken ) about the amount of support shown to them during a very traumatic 2 weeks or so.Sue stated that she would like 50% of any money raised be used in any local charity. Ken &Sues neighbour is the son of a well known coconut seller in Puerta Plate,during the week this guy had a serious accident while painting a church , his rib cage was shattered and he sustained a serious head injury , his condition is very very critical, each day his family have to pay over 1000 peso for his head to be scanned .The gentleman was recently moved from the public hospital in PP to the one in Santiago , the bed is free , anything else has to be paid for with money that the family do not have . People at the party heard of this , we held a downscaled aution , people paid crazy prices for things they maybe did not even want, all great fun over 20,000 peso raised , a wonderful night.The son of the injured man left with 15,000 peso to get the treatment his father needs started.We have also been informed by a much respected member of Dr1 that a very sick child is in need of an operation similar to Ken , we have requested more information The main auction is now to be held on Saturday 12th July , anybody that is inclined to help in anyway is welcomed to participte in any way you can , we obviously have a lot of good items but we would welcome any more , thanks

 

[Lambada]

Ken &Sues neighbour is the son of a well known coconut seller in Puerta Plate,during the week this guy had a serious accident while painting a church , his rib cage was shattered and he sustained a serious head injury , his condition is very very critical, each day his family have to pay over 1000 peso for his head to be scanned .The gentleman was recently moved from the public hospital in PP to the one in Santiago , the bed is free , anything else has to be paid for with money that the family do not have . People at the party heard of this , we held a downscaled aution , people paid crazy prices for things they maybe did not even want, all great fun over 20,000 peso raised , a wonderful night.The son of the injured man left with 15,000 peso to get the treatment his father needs started.

Excellent! Well done.

 

[sueeng3]

Thank you for that lambada, i was not sure how people would feel about me doing that when the money being raised was for Ken and myself.
The response i got was fantastic and i dont know why i ever doubted it.
Again a big thank you to all who joined in this fund raising for us,as you know lambada we have only been here for a short while,i am totally overwhelmed by it all.
Thank you for your donation of the books ,i am not sure but i think they have been held back for the Saturday auction.
I can tell you that the son of the coconut seller was also totally overwhelmed as was his Mother when he rang her last night.
He has said he will call to see me this evening when he gets back from Santiago
so i will keep you informed of his progress
Once more a big thank you from Ken and myself
Sue

 

[sueeng3]

Ok update on the coconut seller, His opp will be on Monday so fingers crossed for him, his wife was moved by the people of Costambar, his dad has not been informed yet as to how the money was raised.
He is a very proud man and they fear he will say no to the opp if he knows,
so his family decided to tell him after the opp, opppppppppps too late
I think this is right lets see if he does lol

Kind regards

Sue

 

[Lambada]

Very best wishes to the coconut seller for Monday & to Ken for every day when we hope he will get stronger & fitter. Your donation of the funds to a Dominican cause is heartwarming - whatever bad luck we think we might have, many of these people have to put up with things which could be rectified if only they had the money. Ken should feel so good about this that it should help his recovery.

OK you've had your 'bad luck' now - things should be plain sailing for the next 10 years...............

 

[peteclaffey]

wow ginnie you sure have a way with words !

 

[buttons66]

Saturday

OK DR1 I am pushing this to help Ken and Sue again.
I know Friday wasn't the best idea I came up with for the auction and we are going to try again this Saturday.

So for all those who PM'd me you can still send money and donate things for the auction, and for all those who couldn't make it Friday, we hope you can make it this Saturday 12th July at 6pm at Barcode, Costambar.

 

[buttons66]

donations

Just to let you know some of the things up for grabs on Saturday.

We have various trips including a Mega Truck trip, Ocean World, Picnic in the mountains and a day pass to the Riu's each ticket is for 2 people and have been donated for Ken and Sue.

We still have the fantastic painting donated by the museum in Santiago.

We have been promised many more trips and donations for Saturday and hope you will come too.

 

[Hillbilly]

The painting was mine. The artist has others at the art dealers, and therefore the reserve.

HB

 

[buttons66]

painting

I must say sorry Hillbilly - with everything that has been going on this week I didn't even realise it was your picture (many thanks) and we hope to have a lot more interest at the auction this Saturday.
It is a most generous donation and hope it makes it past the reserve. I only wish there were more people like you out there to help.

 

[peteclaffey]

my fondest memories of Friday mini auction is the bids for the cookery books , frantic bidding between the person who donated them and somebody who wanted them , the person who donated them won the bid , then donated them to the person he outbid, that was the party spirit we enjoyed on the night.
btw I paid my fines to the grammer police

 

[peteclaffey]

or was it grammar ?

 

[ffritz]

That's another 100 pesos you owe Pete ;-)

 

[sueeng3]

Update on the coconut seller
Just talked to his son,now he is on the correct meds to thin his blood the clot on his brain is going,hes doing so well they have let him home, he will still need scans to check it and will be on the meds for a while,but the money raised as gone a long way to the cost of all this, so very pleased that we all helped him as are his family

 

[ffritz]

That's fantastic news Sue!
It just goes to show that a relatively small amount of money (by European or North American standards) can make a REAL difference here.

 

[buttons66]

Lets not forget

This is the reason we are all trying to help and are asking YOU to come down to Barcode Saturday at 6pm for the auction (Costambar).
A post from Sue....................

We took out health insurance here in the DR with a well known company.
They have paid out a chunk of money when my husband was ill,but when it came to a big opp they would not pay !!!
I am going to look into why but at the time he was my concern not them,
It could be that if we had been with them longer we would have been ok,i will post the reason when i know.

If there is a good reason then fair enough,but if its just because it was a big opp that cost a lot then a big NO NO
This is what we have insurance for,
as i said i will post the reason on here when i know
I am not trying to scare people or make them cancel there insurance,but it could be worth just checking if you have the right level of cover

 

[buttons66]

Insurance

I know we are changing our insurance Sue, as we are with the same company and wouldn't want what happened to Ken and you, happen to us.
We are behind you all the way with support and fund raising.

 

[ffritz]

Insurance companies tend to employ more people in the loss adjustment departments than sales because they make more money not paying claims than they can generate in sales.

Sue's right though - read the small print folks!

 

[buttons66]

Ok folks just been on the phone to the health insurance, i have spoken to Marcel from the International Residence Club Insurance who was very nice and also as helpful as he could be without all the facts in front of him.

He did tell me that when they refused to pay i should have phoned the information number right away, but in this situation your not thinking straight so i didnt,
But also this was not just a routine opp it was a emergency life saving opp,so are you really going to take time out to argue about payment in that situation.
Marcel has said he will help us and look into it for us,he will also try to get some of our money back for us if he can.

but now for the crippler folks!!!
those of you like us who pay the rd$500 per month rd$630 if you have drugs included, you are only covered for rd$250,000 per year.
So not only are we out of pocket with the first opp it could be that Ken now has no insurance for the rest of the year, i will up date you one way or the other
but it looks like we have been a bit stupid to say the least in not looking in to it fully

Sue