Connie needs help, she urgently needs a lift reclining chair, her existing chair is practically collapsing and she has severe back and other issues that urgently require a new chair that can lift up and down, and help her get up to walk more and move her body in different ways and positions.

Otherwise, she may require more medical treatment than the Mansion can offer. She is in considerable pain.

She needs a new chair urgently, but is reluctant to ask for help, she was preparing to contact an attorney to release some money she had saved or put away. I told her to wait, we would get it for her. Connie does not really know how to ask for help, she is fiercely prideful and independent.

Like a lot of good woman, Connie isn’t all that crazy about men, and we have had some joyous battles. And lots of love.

She told me she doesn’t want me or the Army Of Good to spend any more money on her. I told her not to be a pain-in-the ass for once,  that was up to us, and that got a smile out of her. She said she missed Red and Maria when we were in New Mexico. Me too, a little bit, she said.

Connie is struggling, and we have used most of the Mansion fund money to buy air conditioners for the residents, reclining chairs, for several outings and clothes, and for a new air conditioner for the kitchen.

There is about $1,000 left in the fund and I would like to order Connie an $810 Medlift Reclining Lift For The Elderly.  I could use some help with this one – this model offers free shipping, and will arrive in a week or so. As it happens, I can offer a gift in return for the first 17 people who donate $25 or more for Connie’s chair.

I don’t want to order the chair until I have more money in the fund, there are other needs for the residents, and I manage it closely and well.

An 81-year-old artist named Kay Nohe – she lives in Georgia – just send us a boxed of knitted hats and scarves as a gift and asked that we offer it to people who donate to the Mansion or the Refugee Fund. The gift is timely, I have to say. I don’t and can’t usually offer gifts in return for donations, but this one seems to have come for a purpose.

At least five of these hats were made with Bedlam Farm wool,  but they and Kay Nohe’s scarves are lovely. We only have 17, it will strictly be first-come, first-serve. There are some baby sox in the box as well.

You can donate in several ways. One is by mail, to our Post Office Box, P.O. Box 205, Cambridge, N.Y., 12816. Please include your return address, we will wait several days to make sure people who use the P.O. Box get a chance at the gifts.

The second way is to send a donation of $25 or more to my Paypal account, [email protected], please mark it for Connie’s Chair and include your s-mail address.

Maria is close to Connie and wants to help, you can also e-mail her directly at [email protected] and she will respond. If people choose to donate less than $25, that would also be welcome, you can send the donation to the post office box – P.O.  Box 205, Cambridge, N.Y., 12816, or to Paypal, [email protected].

If more than $800 comes in, all extra money will go directly into the Mansion/Refugee account to help replenish it. I like to keep it around $2,500. As always, the chair will be gifted to the Mansion. When Connie is done with it, it will be used by another resident in need.

Connie wants to stay in the Mansion and is working hard to remain, her doctors believe she is making progress, but her need for a new chair is both central and urgent. I plan to go ahead and order the chair shortly because of the time element, I will make up any shortfall myself, if it comes to that.

We will, of course, get her that chair.

Thanks for your help and support.