Houston Consumer Blog

Grandma Gibbons tree

The sun rising to the sound of a chainsaw was music to Betty Gibbons ears. It was a day seven months in the makeing. Grandma Gibbons was a newlywed when her late husband planted this majestic hackberry tree nearly 50 years ago. It was standing straight the night before Ike hit, then lightening and Ike's winds took it down.

 "I was devastated really when I saw the tree, limbs all over." said Gibbons.

And the tree has sprawled across her lawn ever since the storm.

"I was beginning to wonder if I was going to get it removed or it was going to be a permanent thing here. A pepermanent memorial to Ike."

She tried cutting the tree with this small bow saw but needless to say the hugh job was impossible.

holding the small saw she laughed, ' I couldn't do this with a small bow saw"

 She played phone tag with the city trying to get help with no success.

Gibbons said "I didn't have money to hire someone to remove it and I told her how old I am 79 I was 78 at the time and I felt very disappointed I didn't know what I was going to do."

Frustrated, she called in the Action 13 Angels and we got right on it.

We called onGarden Guru Rany Lemmon and he called in his friend and affordable three specialist Martin Spoonemore.

Spoonemore said  "It's going to be a rest haven for snakes, rats and everything else that could make a home out of it."

Lemon decided the ants had to go before the tree. "He said "I had this sneaking suspicion that underneath the felled tree fire ants would be existing. we have a fire ant mound all the way up the trunk of the tree."

It took less than an hour for a crew from Affordable Tree Service to get the job done. A job that would have cost around 15 hundred, but they didn't charge a dime.

"We've got it taken care of for her so she should be in good shape and now she can enjoy her yard again." Spoonemore said when they finished the job.

What do you think of your yard now? Gibbons was delighted "it's great you don't know how much I appreciate it, too. I prayed like I said and the Lord sent Angels."

The City has started collecting and recycling tree debris during odd months. To check the date in your zip code click on  http://www.houstontx.gov/solidwaste/index.html

Thanks to Randy Lemmon and Martin Spoonemore, president of Affordable Tree Service for getting up before dawn to help Betty Gibbons.

Have a good weekend

Lori

lik

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A Horse teaches a course - of course

"We learned many things and I can't even say them right now because there were so many" said  student Michaela Kozlowski.

Thanks to enterprising youngsters in the Magnolia community there's a new teacher at Magnolia's Nicholas Sawmill elementary school - one that's causing quite a sensation.

"It's really funny when they go up and hug him and she give them a kiss" said student Tyler Maxwell

A mini-mare, named Tess, is teaching special needs kids to grow a little at a time

Tess she connects with them they'll pet her mane and they'll know how to brush their hair they buckle their harness they buckle their belts  said student Christian Young.

It started out as a contest aimed at problem solving. Students in Ms. Edwards 5th grade gifted and talented class were on the lookout for something special. When they visited SIRE- -a program that uses horses and riding to teach the disabled life skills-they got to work raising money to bring the program to special needs kids at their school.

"We made cookies, hot chocolate and we had a basketball game"

They sold the chocolate chip cookie recipe made famous by former first lady Laura Bush, had rallies and even sold horse masks for a dollar.

'These kids have gone the extra distance they've given up weekends, they've given up extra things they could be doing they stayed here and worked on the project." said their teacher Mrs. Cherrie Edwards

Despite all their hard works the kids came up short. That's when Mrs. Edwards called on Action 13 angels and our angels took up the reins. We quickly enlisted Challenger Pools Charlene Leighton. She said her son goes to Nicholas Sawmill Elementary and that's how she heard about the project and it was something she and her husband Tim wanted to contribute to because it was a good cause.

"now we're going to do it at our school and Williams school next year." said Gwindalyn

So, what began as a contect has now become something much more-something truly unique. For the next year,every month, Tess will come to interact with the Magnolia school kids.

"We realized that we aren't doing this project for the contect that's a nice bonus we're doing it for these kids these kids are our friends.Makenzie Kulhanek summed up the project.

And what do the teachers think of a horse as a teacher? Principal Linda Kenjury 'I like having a horse teach a course because the kids are very motivated and I need all the volunteer help I can get, Tess is a wonderful part of our staff.

 If you our your child wants to volunteer at SIRE check out . http://www.sire-htec.org/newSite/staff.shtm SIRE has three sites Hockley, Spring and Ft. Bend and different projects for different age kids.To volunteer in Hockley you can call Penny Kvello at 281-356-7588 ext. 209, Ft. Bend Maryann Jerity 281-778-0202 Spring Robin Maxwell 281-353-6160

and thanks so Challenger Pool's Charlene and Tim Leighton for their help

Have Fun- and don't forget- if you're celebrating  at least 50 years of marriage or your 100th birthday send up your picture at Action 13 Angels Channel 13 post office box 13 Houston, Texas 77001

Lori

Angels help Houston grandmother who can't afford life saving medicine

 "It feels so wonderful sitting here with the family" Said Margaret Anderson  

 This time last month, Margaret Anderson didn't think she'd survive to eat pizza with her grand kids today.

She has final stage kidney disease  "I don't have not only one good kidney both of my kidney's are gone"

Just 47, Margaret is disabled on the transplant list waiting for a new kidney. With her kidneys failing fast, medicine that costs 900 dollars a month and  her only  income is 640 dollars in disability. she was stuck between a rock and a hard place.  

Margaret said "I barely have enough to pay rent let alone my medicine."

She and her daughters used their life savings to pay for the prescriptions. Then her health problems escallated.

Margaret said "I started getting sicker and sicker I had went 14 days without my medicine. They said without my meds and dialysis I wouldn't even live to see 3 months .I tried over and over and I've called and called and I went and no one helped me."

 Margaret's family was frantic and thought to call Action 13 and our Angels took it from there. 

 Adult Protective Services brought her enough medicine to make it through the month

" If she had not had that I don't know what her situation would have been like without the medication." Said Brenda Atkins of APS

Then Action 13 Angel Leonard Kanick pulled out all the stops to push her social security paperwork through.

"You can get immediate Medicare for end stage renal disease and ALS or Lou Gehrig's disease.otherwise it's two years from the time of approval ' Kanick said , and knew time was not on Margaret's side.

 " We were able to give her Medicaid so now she has Medicare and Medicaid so now she has double health insurance of her needs will be taken care of  absolutely  the medicine he whole nine yards medicine, dialysis that's why you're one of the angels he's in good shape." said Kanick 

"Now that we got the help it's unbelievable" Said Margaret's daughter  

 Margaret's grandkids don't know what all the fuss is about, they just know that they've got their Grandma back.  

 "Marvin's Angels came through." said Margaret

If you are in a similar situation  or know someone who is Adult Protective Services can help eligible seniors and  the disabled with things including medicine, utilities, groceries, miner repairs and even rent.  

APS 1-800-252-5400 or www.everyonesbusiness.org  www.dfps.state.tx.gov.us  or e-mail me at lori.reingold@abc.com

Lori

Prosthetic Problem

Imagine what it would be like to have to hide your face because you're the un-willing center of attention. David Kelly was in that situation- he had lost his nose to cancer. Our angels, however, gave him the only Christmas present he wanted, a prosthetic nose. Kelly's insurance covered 15 surgeries, 30 radiation treatments and 125 appointments at  M.D. Anderson Cancer Center. When he had to stop working because of the cancer he lost his job and insurance, and he couldn't afford to pay for cobra insurance. He had no income and ended up losing his car and his utilities were turned off. If that wasn't hard enough, medical treatment stopped when his insurance stopped. Kelly couldn't get a prosthetic nose. After waiting for five months he wrote us and within two weeks Kelly had his nose.

Here is M.D. Anderson's policy for patients whose insurance is topped off or cut off during treatment.

"If you cannot pay your patient balance in full, it may be possible to arrange a Payment Plan. Your Business Center Representative or Financial Counselor can provide information about the monthly Payment Plans which are available. If the cost of your care is beyond your financial means and you are a Texas resident, you may request an Application for Supplemental Financial Assistance from your Business Center Representative or Financial Counselor. Eligibility for Supplemental Financial Assistance is based on the Federal Poverty Index."

Ike Renters Rights

Three months after Hurricane Ike a lot of people are still displaced. Lyonel Harris for one. He lived in his retirement apartment home for 6 years, but was forced out when the building was severely damaged by the storm. Harris said fire officials evacuated him and other residents.

"They came back early the next morning knocking on everyone's door saying everyone had to evacuate it's unsafe." said Harris.

Harris was worried about his rent. He was paying for a place he couldn't live in. In this case, residents will be given credit for future rent due, and those who left will receive their rent money and deposit back plus interest.

Houston Apartment Association  Howard Bookstaff says if a place is un-livable either you or your landlord can terminate the lease. You pay rent until the termination date and are eligible for your deposit back. 

Here are a couple or websites that are useful to both renters and owner/managers on recouping rent and security deposits following devastating destruction to apartment buildings during disasters   www.haaonline.org http://www.haaonline.org/portal_res.aspx, http://www.haaonline.org/web/2007/09/legal_referrals.aspx. http://www.haaonline.org/web/2008/09/action_alert.aspx. 

Lori

book angels

In Galveston, The oldest Catholic school in our state was one of the many victims of hurricane Ike. Classrooms and books were wiped out by the storm. But, Action 13 Angels are helping the school get back on track.

161 year old O'connell High lost it's entire library of 8 thousand books to water, heat, humidity and mold. School sports rivals helped by bringing clothing and books. In addition the book angels at Barnes & Noble, will hold local book fairs at their stores where you can buy a book for any school destroyed by Ike. The book store says it will also donate books and ask it's vendors to do the same.

The Texas Book Festival and Barnes & Noble are also collecting books for hurricane affected libraries through the state book fair in Austin this weekend. Grants from the festival will also go to the devastated libraries . It's a start on the road to recovery.

texasbookfestival.org

Thanks to the kids at Beaumont Legacy Christian Academy, Brazosport Christian Cornerstone Church in Katy and Fellowship at Cinco Ranch- for helping.

on another subject- if you, or someone you know, needs of an electric hospital bed, an assist lift bar or a scooter without batteries let me know. click on consumer, angels then e-mail leave your day, evening and cell phones.

Have a good weekend.

Lori

Starting School Seeing 20/20

He could have lost his eye ."

When Action 13 Angel Dr. Paul Salmon sen saw Chris Colocho- he was so worried the 12 year old could go blind that he immediately scheduled him for surgery.

You see Chris was hit in the eye during a soccer game with friends- but was afraid to tell his mom what had happened.

"it was six months and his eye was red"

She had no idea that the blow nearly crushed Chris's eye.

I couldn't see, I saw all blurry""

how bad were Christian's eyes? They were very bad he wasn't able to read perfectly or see anything he had trouble seeing the board.

Chris's reading teacher at Hartmann Middle School, Ms. Dockins realized something was wrong. "I noticed Chris was squinting and couldn't see so I moved him from the middle to the front row and he continued doing the same thing."Davione Cotton said his classmate was having a hard time seeing "

She contacted school nurse Claire Middleton to give him an eye exam.

"He failed the test real badly,we called the Action 13 Angels because this student seemed to need more help."

Chris desperately needed surgery that his mom couldn't afford."She was never able to have finances to take him anywhere""

But, his needs were taken care of by Action 13 Angel, eye surgeon Dr. Paul Salmonsen

'That blunt trauma to the eye caused a tear in the retina and that could lead to a retinal detachment to prevent a retinal detachment we lasered or sealed off that tear and he's doing fine."

Dr. Salmonsen is part of the Houston Eye Associates Foundation. It's one of the charities That benefits from the Marvin Zindler Memorial Golf Tournament. The Foundation steps in if you don't have medical insurance and can't afford treatment or if you've been denied treatment

As for Chris

Thanks to our angel, Chris is starting this school year seeing the chalkboard 20/20

"how are things today?I don't see blurry any more. Do you see clearly yes.

His Mom believes the angel was "sent from God to help her son

"perfect" we're glad every thing's fine .

you can download an application for free eye care at the Houston Eye Associates through this link.   

www.houstoneye.com/foundation

Or call HEA AT (713) 668-6828 or give us a call at (713) 663-4565 to let us know you need their help

Thanks,

Lori

YOU CAN NOW FILE ON LINE FOR SOCIAL SECURITY BENEFITS

Social Security's snafu had made Joye and Richard Sheffield tied up in knots for months.

Mrs. Sheffield exclaimed, "This has been a nightmare."

You see, their dying daughter's social security check was being deposited into Sheffield's account to help them pay for her medicines and needs.

"She fought a hard fight but she lost the battle on May the 7th 2008."

The Sheffield's not only lost their daughter Sandra, but they lost all their money, too when the date of Sandra's death was incorrectly registered by Social Security.

Sheffield clearly said. "They made a mistake they put in 2007 instead of 2008

Sheffield who suffers from his own severe health problems didn't know what to do Sheffield who suffers from his own severe health problems didn't know what to do. without warning the government computer had electronically taken back an entire year of his daughter's disability payments. It wiped out 10 thousand dollars from Sheffield's account.

"We're down to zero now and I thought we had a little bit in security and now we don't have nothing."

"They took out all the money they took out all the checks."

The Sheffield's say "We've run into a brick wall and they say well now you can call your congressman."

Clearing up mistakes in benefits can be a daunting task. The most important thing to do-if you require help from social security- is get organized. You can go on line to the new social security web site-there you can even apply for your retirement or disability benefits. If you'd rather go in person be prepared with your original documents. The best time to go are late in the day and late in the week.

We called Action 13's Social Security Angel Leonard Kanick who corrected the date and cleared up the confusion.

"We give it top priority there is no workload that gets more priority than an erroneous death input""It is a rare occurrence but unfortunately it's happened before.

"We would like to apologize to the Sheffield's for the hard ship and the inconvenience that this error has caused them."

You can bank on Kanick's word- The 10 thousand dollars is back in their account

The Sheffield's have been through a lot and they were overjoyed when we told them our angel could help. I want to let you know you money's going back into your bank account

"oh thank you oh thank you so very much"

Here's the official social security web site http://www.social security.gov   If you have a problem big or small let us know so we can get angel working on your situation.

GO TO ABC13.COM THEN CLICK THE CONSUMER TAB ON THE LEFT AND THEN CLICK ON ACTION 13 ANGELS E-MAIL

Candle light

Candle light dinners are romantic, but imagine having to live by candle light!

This weeks "Angel" story was about 80 year old Korean Veteran Emit Schuyler who was forced to live by candle light for two years because he couldn't afford to get his breaker box replaced.  He was away for a time, and while he was gone, a tree cutting service came around his neighborhood clipping branches that were hanging over electric wires. A heavy branch fell against his house and ripped off his electric box He survives on social security and didn't have 14 hundred dollars for repairs.

It's a shame that anyone has to live this way, especially the elderly who can't afford help and don't know where to turn.

If you have a neighbor or know of someone who is alone, disturbed, elderly or disabled , you can get help for them by calling Adult Protective Services at 1-800- 254-5400. They investigate claims of elderly neglect or abuse, but also can bring over groceries and pay rent or utilities. The folks at APS want to help and do. I want to thank Mary Breaux and Yolanda Simien, and Gwen Carter at APS for their concern and Schuyler's neighbors Costella Obryant and Arthur Poydres for caring enough to call for help.

let us know, too, where our angels can help you out of a bind. ABC13.com the consumer tab, then click on angels and e-mail me.

Thanks

Lori

Energy Efficient Homes

It couldn't have come at a better time - Just in time for Houston's hot summer and high electric bills- Reliant Energy'a Power House program is helping folks save on their power bills. Reliant has teamed up with Rebuilding Together Houston to make about a thousand Houston area homes energy efficient. Reliant customers can call (713) 497-6666 to put your name on the waiting list Or, if you're not a Reliant customer you can call Rebuilding Together at (713) 228-2890 .There are requirements Reliant Energy Customers Who can you call? The Power House phone line is (713) 497-6666 (if there is no answer leave a message) Who does the program help? The Power House is designed to help Houstonians that are in great need of energy efficiency home repairs-seniors & those on a low-income who are homeowners. All inquiries to the Power House program are added to the Power House list and will be informed to future opportunities are available to the program. Attend an energy efficiency seminar. Applicants are asked to meet with Reliant to go over their electricity bill, complete an application. Customers must be over 64, on a low income or disabled NON-RELIANT CUSTOMERS can call Rebuilding Together at (713) 228-2890 They require proof of age (senior) income and home ownership

gardening for kids

"Ka Bloom" It was done.

An empty atrium was turned into a living lesson for special needs students at Harris County's Academic and Behavior Center West.

"I like to create something beautiful out of something ugly"

said landscape artist of 30 years and "Ka Bloom" owner Jeff Law. The Heights resident volunteered to work with the students to spruce up their school for spring.

It was fun for me to see the kid's enthusiasm and team work and see their efforts result in a beautiful flower garden. So, I thought other kids might be interested in learning something different this summer-gardening and found some programs.

The Sims Bayou Urban Nature Center is offering a summer gardening camp for kids ages 9-12. The phone is (713) 640-2407 and website is houstonaudubon.org

The Mercer Arboretum www.mercerarboretum@hcp4.net and the Men's Garden Club of Houston also offer summer programs.

Jeff Law designs homes from re-cycled materials and gardens that take little care.  He plants flowers that don't even need watering! His e-mail is www.kabloomlandscaping.net

Have A Good Weekend and click on 'angels' if you need help1

Lori

WHEELCHAIRS

"Marvin must be up there pulling strings"  said Mrs. Marvin Zindler when we delivered 30 brand new wheelchairs to Texas Children's Hospital paid for by the Agris/Zindler Foundation for children. "I think he's up there watching and making sure that they're here and that all the children will get what they want and what they need". Mrs. Zindler and Mrs. Agris were on hand for the donation to Chief of Staff Dr. Ralph Feigin.

There's a hugh need for wheelchairs and we have web sites and phone numbers if you want to donate or need a wheelchair. The wheelchairs are available only if they're donated.

www.maministries.org (713) 469-4516 ext 135

www.whamministries.org (713)780-2727

if you know of other places that offer low cost or no cost wheelchairs, please let us know

Lori

Anniversary and Birthday Greetings

Send in your photos!

We'll be announcing anniversary and birthday greetings on line!

If you've been married for at least 50 years or are 100 years old-send in your picture and we'll announce your landmark anniversary.

E-mail photos to angels.abc13.com

Or

Send them to Lori Reingold "Greetings" Channel 13 -Post Office Box 13-

Houston

, Texas 77001

Let us hear from you.

Widow's benefits

we learned that one of the "best kept secrets" is veteran's widow benefits. here are web sites and the veterans services phone number - if you need assistance.

Here is the information we told you about:
http://www.csd.hctx.net/
http://www.vso.hctx.net/

Harris County Veteran Services Department
281.876.6600

The veterans services also provide assistance to veterans and their dependents regarding compensation, pension, medical, educational, insurance and death benefits.

If you need help from one of our angels e-mail me directly here.

thanks,

lori