Disabled Widow Barely Surviving On Widows Benefits Seeks Ways To Make Ends Meet
by Sandra Townson
Needless to say, I received nothing. I had been with my husband since 1994 but we waited until 2000 to get married. When he filled his pension beneficiary card out it was put in his daughter's name the previous March and we got married the following September. He worked for Motion Picture. We went to the office and changed over everything so that I started receiving his insurance etc. They neglected to tell us that the beneficiary for pension was a completely different department. I did not find this out until after he died. His daughter is 24 years old and is mentally disabled. She lives in a group home where the people that run the place give each child $100 a month out of their monthly social security check. Of course I understand it takes money to take care of 10 disabled grown-ups, but my husband's monthly pension check goes into the owner's checking account. I am disabled as of 2007. I was pushed down some stairs and broke my neck and both my arms. I was in a coma for a month and was not expected to live, but obviously I did. I had to wear a "halo" for four months drilled into my head. My memory is far from what it used to be and I have been diagnosed with "post traumatic stress syndrome." Previously to that accident I had two back surgeries. One month after my husband died, I had to have another back surgery which did not go well. With my husband's death benefit of $2000 I had him buried in a VA cemetery. The last of my money was used to move from Frazier Park, CA to Burbank, CA. My problem is that I don't receive enough income to cover all my costs. Of the $1240 per month that I get, $925 goes to rent, which was extremely hard to find because my husband left me with a lot of bad credit. I am very lucky my landlord understood. After rent that leaves me with $300. With that I have to pay utilities (electric $78 and gas $47). I'm also lucky that I do not have car payments but my car insurance is $140 per month. I am also a diabetic and my prescriptions come to a total of $200 per month. I have worked all of my life and have enough credits to receive my own Social Security. If I could receive that (it's only about $750) it would surely help my life. Social Security tells me that I cannot receive that until I am 62 years old and being only 58 right now I honestly don't know how I am going to make it. I'm already behind on my utilities. I can't buy gas for my car, let alone food shopping. Welfare told me I am not eligible for food stamps. I don't have family to borrow money from and actually why should I have to since I am a US citizen that worked all my life. My question is isn't there some way to get my own Social Security since I am disabled and still collect my husbands survivor's benefits? I honestly need some kind of help because along with my other disabilities, I hate the thought of morning coming again because I know I'm going to have to struggle through another day and it's so stressful and depressing and no one wants to listen to me. Is there some kind of financial grant for widows left with nothing that are disabled? Thank you for listening to my story. Sincerely, Sandra Townson.
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