I hadn’t seen Kelly for some weeks, and we rarely get a chance to talk much at the Bog, she is too busy.

I realized last night that I missed seeing her, even briefly, she has a goodness that comes through in every photograph, and is grounding.

She speaks to kindness and a generosity of spirit that seems to be missing sometimes in the wider world.

And last night I felt and saw and head this first hand, in the two responses I had to the Mansion van.

When we sat down, Kelly came up to say hello, to ask Maria about her trip to India, to take our order.

She came over to me and said quietly, “it is great what you are doing for the people in the Mansion,” she was speaking about the successful gofundme campaign to help them get their new van. Mostly through the blog, we raised $10,000 in a little over a week. I blushed a bit and nodded, I honestly don’t know what to say to comments like that, I get uncharacteristically flustered. But I appreciated it. (I was thinking it was not just me by any means, all kinds of people helped.)

Just minutes before, a good friend had raised her eyebrows when the subject of the man came up, and said she wasn’t  happy about the project. “Why didn’t they buy the van with their own money?,” she asked. This surprised me, as I cannot imagine ever having been involved in anything in my life that seemed as worthy or non-controversial as helping an assisted care facility get a van to take the residents to doctors and on field trips. There is a tendency to doubt the motives of everyone, and blame the poor and the needy for their troubles.

This is modern-day  America, it sometimes seems our hearts are turning to stone, and there is nothing that does not arouse suspicion, resentment or doubt,  or causes division. We are a nation of victims now, of one travesty or another. And the idea of finding facts or truth does not seem to be part of the process.

I told my friend I was surprised, I asked what the problem was. “Oh, you know,” she said, “those places have a lot of money, and they charge the residents for every trip they take. That’s what I heard. They make plenty of money. Why would they need help getting money to buy a van?”

Of course somebody would say that,  in our time no good deed goes unpunished. We are a suspicious and divided people and whenever people seek to go to the outside world and ask for help, somebody grouses about it. Not something I quite understand, but have come to expect it. It comes up in a small way in every fund-raising project, to refugees to injured farmers.  Why should they beg for my money?

I loved Kelly’s response, it was, as always with her, from the heart and instant. I think I am realizing why I love photographing Kelly so much, and why so many people love the photos of her, her spirit speaks to the highest human potential. She is all about empathy. She didn’t need to doubt the campaign, it just sounded nice that so many people reached out to help.

Of course, being a former journalist, I I had to check this friend’s report out.  I love facts and truth. There was the subtle suggestion that I had been tricked.

I talked to a Medicaid administrator in Washington this morning, I also talked to some people at the Mansion. I learned that at some private payer facilities – people pay out of their own savings for services the Mansion residents can’t afford –  residents are charged up to $25 for travel outside of their area.

At Medicaid facilities like the Mansion, there is no charge of any kind for any transportation anywhere, nor is the facility required to provide a van. The Mansion is responsible for buying the van, for insurance, for repairs and gasoline.  The Mansion also hires and pays for a full-time transportation aide to drive the residents anywhere they need or wish to go.

Two weeks ago, I was at the Mansion, and their van was being repaired. A number of the residents require regular chemotherapy treatments, they often have to be driven to hospitals and special facilities an hour or more away.  The Mansion makes scores of medical trips every week, as well as field trips.

That day, as often happens, staffers were using their own personal vehicles to get the residents to their appointments. That was happening more frequently as the old van was falling apart.

Thanks to the new van, that will not be necessary.

So here is the truth: The Mansion receives no payments or reimbursements of any kind for transporting patients, and they take them on many field trips that are not in any way required.

I ought to say that I have spent a lot of time at the Mansion, and while life there is sometimes painful and difficult, I have never been in a more loving or caring place.

I no longer believe that places like that are to be avoided at all costs. No one wants to be in the position of the Mansion residents, having to leave all that is familiar behind for good. But the Mansion is a very safe place,  and a nurturing last resort for many people, they do not make a lot of money, if any,  and I would hate to think what would happen to these residents if they couldn’t be there.

The van was a great and good cause, you did a great thing and I thank you. The spiritual change is to open up our hearts and souls in the face of so much anger and distrust, and the challenge is to move through anger and suspicion to a better place. Kelly seems to be there.

Kelly and her response brought this into some focus for me, I think that is the meaning of her photographs and why I am drawn to them. I call it Kellyness.