Dear
CODEPINKer,
Friday
was an historic day.
At 11am, Jocelyne Voltaire was scheduled to lose her home in Queens
Village, the home she had lived in for the past 20 years, the home
where she raised her four children. Unable to keep up her skyrocketing
mortgage payments, Jocelyne watched in horror as her home was put
on the auction block. This amazing
video clip by American News Project brought Jocelyn's
plight to our attention.
At
9:05 am EST, we sent out an urgent call to our CODEPINK list. Our
jaws dropped when we saw the response. Donations of $5, $25, $500,
even $1,000! Within an hour, we had raised over $10,000. And the
money kept pouring in, along with beautiful messages of support.
Jocelyne
was moved to tears. And the mortgage bankers, with our immediate
promise of $15,000 at 11am, were "moved" to stop the auction.
We
did it!!! While
our government has taken billions of our tax dollars to bail out
the wealthy, we came together to bail out a desperate mother. Thanks
to you, in one day we raised over $30,000 from 650 donors
and showered Jocelyne with love and compassion. We modeled
exactly what we want our government to do-bail out families facing
personal disaster, not financiers.
Jocelyne
still faces enormous hurdles, both financial and emotional. She
has to pull herself out of a deep depression from the loss of her
eldest son, a Marine who had served in the Gulf. She has to recover
her health so she can start working again. She has to fix up her
home so she can get renters to augment her income. And she still
has to renegotiate her loan and make monthly mortgage payments.
But
thanks to you, Jocelyne now has another chance. We found a wonderful
pro-bono lawyer to help her battle the predatory lenders and restructure
her loan. And after wiring the mortgage
company $15,000, we will use the funds that keep coming in to help
Jocelyne make her monthly payments and get back on her feet.
As
we write, Jocelyne is feeling exhausted but renewed. She is ready
to unpack the boxes she has been living out of for the past year.
She now feels surrounded by people who want to lift her up, not
toss her out. And she wants to use her experience to help others.
At the press conference we held at the courthouse steps, surrounded
by dozens of cameras, Jocelyne said: "To
all of you facing similar disasters, don't be silent, don't be ashamed.
Step forward and call out for help. That's what I did, and a miracle
happened. These angels came to help me. We all have to pull together
and help each other."
You
are those angels and we at CODEPINK are in awe of you-your generosity,
your compassion, your willingness to stand up for Main Street Americans.
Now
let's pull together in the coming months, as Jocelyne asked us to
do, and move our government to do the same-bail out Main Street,
not Wall Street.
Thanks
for making miracles happen. Here's to Jocelyne,
to you and to solidarity.
Dana,
Deidra, Desiree, Farida, Gael, Gayle, Jean, Jodie, Liz, Lori, Medea,
Nancy, and Rae
P.S.
Jocelyne still needs all the help she can get. If you have not yet
donated and are moved to do so, click
here.
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