http://www.abc27.com/story/16962981/womans-plea-to-obama-answered-with-request-for-money
Article posted:
HARRISBURG, Pa. (WHTM) -
A house in the woods just outside Harrisburg is sort of hidden, just like the problems of the woman who lives there.
Linda Lattuca is 60 years old and has medical issues. She gets Social Security disability and works part-time, but makes too much to get food stamps or other assistance.
"I don't know where to go," Lattuca said. "Where do you go when you make $16,000 a year and you're making too much money?"
The system says she's above poverty, but huddled in a freezing house out of heating oil, with no phone, no computer, no cable television, plastic on the windows and blankets on the walls, Lattuca says otherwise.
"Poverty level is an empty refrigerator, the empty cupboard, the no oil," Lattuca said. "I drive a very old car. I definitely don't live beyond my means."
With equal parts panic and frustration, Lattuca wrote a letter to a man she voted for and who promised to help people in her situation.
"I told him 'you come here and walk in my shoes, pay my bills with the money I make, and I would guarantee you things would change,'" she said.
Lattuca didn't expect a response but got one. Barack Obama's name was on the envelope and a photograph of him was on the inside - along with a letter asking for a campaign contribution.
"I would rather of not gotten anything than this," Lattuca said. "This is a slap in the face."
Lattuca is now used to being slapped around by a system that doesn't know she exists. Because she's not getting assistance, she's not counted by the bureaucrats. She's hidden in a chilly house in the woods. We may not see her, but she's there.
"I am a human being," she said. "And I'm freezing."
abc27 News reached out to the White House for a comment but received no response.
HARRISBURG, Pa. (WHTM) -
A house in the woods just outside Harrisburg is sort of hidden, just like the problems of the woman who lives there.
Linda Lattuca is 60 years old and has medical issues. She gets Social Security disability and works part-time, but makes too much to get food stamps or other assistance.
"I don't know where to go," Lattuca said. "Where do you go when you make $16,000 a year and you're making too much money?"
The system says she's above poverty, but huddled in a freezing house out of heating oil, with no phone, no computer, no cable television, plastic on the windows and blankets on the walls, Lattuca says otherwise.
"Poverty level is an empty refrigerator, the empty cupboard, the no oil," Lattuca said. "I drive a very old car. I definitely don't live beyond my means."
With equal parts panic and frustration, Lattuca wrote a letter to a man she voted for and who promised to help people in her situation.
"I told him 'you come here and walk in my shoes, pay my bills with the money I make, and I would guarantee you things would change,'" she said.
Lattuca didn't expect a response but got one. Barack Obama's name was on the envelope and a photograph of him was on the inside - along with a letter asking for a campaign contribution.
"I would rather of not gotten anything than this," Lattuca said. "This is a slap in the face."
Lattuca is now used to being slapped around by a system that doesn't know she exists. Because she's not getting assistance, she's not counted by the bureaucrats. She's hidden in a chilly house in the woods. We may not see her, but she's there.
"I am a human being," she said. "And I'm freezing."
abc27 News reached out to the White House for a comment but received no response.
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