Despite Misfortunes, Peekskill Woman Stays Independent

Verona Peters, a Jamaican native who has lived in London and Brooklyn, now calls Peekskill her home. Thanks to the help of The New York Times Neediest Cases fund, she moved into an apartment in her sister’s two-story house.

The NYT article highlighting Ms. Peters, 67, explains that she is not able to live on her own: her body won’t allow it. Her conditions include failing kidneys, high blood pressure, diabetes, congestive heart failure and a spell of diverticular bleeding.

Ms. Peters’ monthly income comes from Social Security benefits, Supplemental Security Income, Medicare, Medicaid and her family’s generosity.

After a year of living in a nursing home in 2000, “trapped like an animal in a cage,” Ms. Peters was introduced to The Dominican Sisters, a home health agency that is an affiliate of Catholic Charities Archdiocese of New York, one of the seven agencies supported by The New York Times Neediest Cases Fund.

Not only did the agency help her move, but it also arranged her transportation to and from dialysis, provided a weekly visiting nurse and home health aide and an emergency alert button.

To donate to the fund and help people like Peekskill’s Verona Peters and , you can give online, on the phone or through mail.