Kyra was diagnosed with diabetes as a child. The cost of multiple medications, and eventually kidney disease, meant decades of medical bills. Because Kyra was often too sick to work, she didn’t have health insurance to alleviate the burden of bills. Eventually, she was forced to declare bankruptcy. That’s when the yellow envelope arrived. The letter came from RIP Medical Debt, a nonprofit dedicated to buying and forgiving past due medical debt. Americans owe nearly $1 trillion in medical debt. Lenders know most people will never be able to pay their medical bills, so to recover some of their losses, lenders will sell medical debt for pennies on the dollar. This is how RIP Medical Debt is able to buy the debt and forgive it. RIP Medical Debt operates on donations. In 2019, almost 100 of those donations came from churches across the United States. Kyra’s debt was paid off thanks to Vineyard Church, a church she had never even attended. The congregation of Vineyard Church raised $18,000, which was enough to purchase $2.9 million in past-due medical debt owed by people in their community. This included Kyra. “I can pay car insurance, my bills, my rent. I can take care of my son.” Kyra’s life was completely transformed thanks to the generosity of Vineyard Church and RIP Medical Debt. In December 2019, RIP Medical Debt announced that they had eliminated $1 billion in medical debt, freeing over 500,000 people from the burden of overwhelming medical debt. To learn more about RIP Medical Debt and their mission, visit RIPMedicalDebt.org .
Churches Help Free Their Community From Medical Debt
Across the United States, Americans are opening their mailboxes to find a little yellow envelope. Inside, there’s a letter announcing that their overwhelming medical debt has been entirely erased.
“First I thought it was a joke,” says Kyra Taylor, a single mother from Ann Arbor, MI, who received such a letter.
_____________________________ Write your name here and fax the completed puzzle to 860-533-0585, send it via empty delivery box or bring it to the shop and receive 10% off your next order . Limit one per customer. Expires Feb. 29, 2020. WORDSEARCH ALISON ASH CHOCOLATE CUPID DONOR GROUNDHOG LOVE PISCES PAUL ROMANCE
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damaged my shoulder so badly from rolling pie dough for hours on end that it took half a year to heal.
After the pie incident, I forced myself to ask for help. I have never been let down in that regard. When I ask for help, there’s always someone willing to show up and contribute. People are happy to help when you ask, even if it’s just one person coming to wash the dishes or a father and son duo trimming some hedges. Finding that capacity to humble yourself, ask for help and being willing to receive help is something many people have to work on. We’re taught we should do things on our own. While it’s important to do things for ourselves, we need to remember we’re not alone in the world. This is easier said than done — trust me, I know — but we all deserve to have a little help now and then.
ROSES SKIING STEPHANIE SUGAR VALENTINE
You don’t have to do everything all by yourself.
860-533-0588 3
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