We have to get Kelly Patrick, a devoted, beloved  Mansion nurses aide, out of the tent she is living in with her grandson and daughter and into a a double-wide trailer that she needs $1,600 to rent by the end of August, and before the winter descends.

Kelly is one of the unsung and unpaid heroes who take care of our aging mothers and  give them the love and attention and care that they so desperately need. In a just world, she and  her colleagues would make more than enough money working so hard to live well and securely.

In our world, they almost all struggle to keep up.

Kelly earns less than most McDonald cashiers. In America, it is increasingly not enough to have a good job, obey the law, work all of your life. The people like Kelly who are at the bottom of the pay scale are struggling to keep up, and often falling behind. I see it every day.

A month or so I got a Facebook message from an aide at the Mansion, a Medicaid Assisted Care Facility here in Cambridge, N.Y. The employee did not give her name, she said she was worried about Kelly Patrick, one of the hardest working and most loved and experienced CNA’s (certified nursing aides) at the Mansion.

She told me Kelly  has been taking care of her grandson Logan and her daughter for seven years, her daughter has had some difficulties and Kelly rushed in to help. Last month, her landlord announced he was selling the trailer they were living in, and Kelly had just a couple of weeks to vacate her home. She discovered that home and apartment and trailer rentals have shot up through the roof, she couldn’t find a place she could afford.

Taking care of her daughter and grandson had drained her bank account and left her with growing bills.

She was forced to move into her small camping tent in her parent’s backyard with them both because she could not afford to pay between $2,000 and $3,000 to put down  deposits and two months’ rent (one for first month, one for last month) on any of the few apartments that were available in this area.

Since even the most experienced CNA’s only make about $12 an hour, she just didn’t have that kind of money. “I”m not like a lawyer person,” she said, “who has $3,000 lying around?”

I checked and found that many McDonald’s and other fast food  cashiers make $13 to $15 an hour.

The text message I got from the Mansion aide said: “Just wanted to give you some info on Kelly’s situation. ..I heard they found a place but need $1,600 to move in..Kelly looks really tired and down these days …I’m hoping that she will be able to find the funds to move….She did say she will probably have to store things and put her tent out on her parents lawn till something comes up and she can can save up money.Her parents have a very small house so she can’t stay there…Just wanted to give you an update on her.She said if she doesn’t find anything local she will move out of area and will be forced to leave the mansion.. We will lose a great worker that’s for sure. She loves it here.”

I figured out who this aide was, and we have worked together, she  knew I would respond.

I got a number of messages like that from people on the Mansion staff, where Kelly is loved and respected. They were horrified that she was living in a tent and they were worried about her. Kelly told almost no one about her being in a tent, but this is a small town, no secret stays secret for long.

This life was taking a toll on her and her family.

I approached Kelly and asked if I could help her. She didn’t hesitate.

She said no, absolutely not. She was adamant.

I said I didn’t have $1,600 myself, but I thought I could raise it on the blog, the Army Of Good would help, I could patch together the rest. She knew from her work at the Mansion what the Army Of Good was capable of.

But she said she didn’t need or want any help, she would somehow find a way to work herself out of this.

Kelly was embarrassed to be living in a tent, she said, she didn’t want people to know. She has always worked hard and  taken care of herself and her daughter and grandson.

I told her I would respect  her wishes, and that I was here if she needed me. I also knew she was facing an awfully steep uphill struggle.

I really hoped she would call me and let me help,  I thought about her almost every day.

The refugees we work with faced some of the same obstacles – they worked hard and played by the rules, but it was hard to get to level ground sometimes.

The thought of Kelly in that tent got into my head, and wouldn’t fade. But I had to respect her wishes.

Saturday night, I got this Facebook message from Kelly: “You told me when I needed something to let you know.Well I need help to be able to get into a.place the end of August first part of sept. We need  $1,600 to move in so I was wondering if you could put something on the blog as you suggested. I feel horrible for asking for help but I’m emotionally drained and need a bed to sleep on and not in a tent …let me know what info you need from me and I’ll give it to you….”

She said it was time to think of her grandson and not be so stubborn.

If you know Kelly, you know that this was one of the hardest things she has ever done in her life: ask other people for help. I wrote that I felt I owed her help, she does so much good for so many people every day.

Most of the people in assisted care, especially Medicaid assisted care, feel abandoned by their families and the outside world. Kelly makes them feel loved and cared for, I see her amazing work all the time. She makes such a difference.

There is no way on this earth that she should be living in a tent.

I first encountered Kelly when I was writing about Connie, one of the first residents of the Mansion  I got close to and that Maria and I came to know well. Connie said she felt Kelly was the daughter she never had, and Kelly took the most wonderful care of Connie, calling her “momma.” Sometimes, when things were rough (Kelly got divorced in 2007) she would sit on the floor next to Connie and talk for hours.

Kelly took the most extraordinary care of Connie, who loved her so much and trusted her completely. She was attentive and patient and loving to all of the Mansion residents, and it was soon apparent to me that the night shift was especially difficult.

Kelly is one of those unsung and underpaid heroes who take care of the aging, soothing them when they are upset, helping them when they are sick, changing their diapers and wiping their bottoms, calming their tantrums and panics. Nighttime shifts are the hard shifts at places like the Mansion, many behavioral problems arise, and loneliness and fear often sets in.

It is simply outrageous to me that this 49-year-old woman, who has never been in trouble, does not drink,  or failed to do good and work. She has a steady job and cannot amass the money necessary to rent a trailer in a small town in upstate New York.

Really? In America?

Kelly is not a spendthrift, she doesn’t have fancy clothes or jewelry, she lives  frugally, cooks at home, she  has worked just about every day of her life, she just got caught in one of those nets that can pull a hard-working person under.

She  had two mouths to feed in addition to her own, and much like some of the refugee women we are helping, just needs some help in getting back on her feet and having a warm, clean and dry place to live.

She says she will have no trouble paying the $800 rent on the trailer she is hoping to live in. She does not want additional help.

Kelly has worked as a CNA for nearly 30 years and makes little more than the minimum wage, which is $11.20 in New York State.

This summer, severe storms and hot and wet weather has made her family’s lives in her tent especially difficult. She sleeps in one room with her grandson, they store their clothes in another, her daughter sleeps in her own room.

One night, a limb came tearing through the side of the tent, the flaps and roof have been ripped and torn off, the tent is damp and cold, and her parents tiny home is much too small to accommodate five people, even for social visits. At night, she and Logan sometimes hold one another as animals move outside of the tent.

She and Logan and her daughter can take showers in her parents house, but she is getting sick a lot and sore and the few cold nights we have had recently have made her realize she can’t stay in that tent with her daughter and grandson when winter comes, or even when the weather turns cold in October.

So I think we really need to get Kelly Patrick out of that tent and tie up the trailer home she wants to rent. It has three bedrooms and is sturdy and warm. She says her grandson really needs to have a stable home situation and his own safe and dry space.

Kelly’s daughter has is dealing forthrightly with some of her own issues, Kelly says she has a “heart of gold,” and is getting her life together. She is committed to helping care for her and  her grandson Logan.

I am committed to getting Kelly out of that tent, I’ve  seen her wonderful work at the Mansion many times, she is a wonderful source of love and support for the residents. I met with her Sunday evening, she was very sad to be asking for help, but accepting of the need.

If you can, please help the Kelly Fund, you can send a contribution to The Kelly Fund, c/o Jon Katz, P.O. Box 205,  Cambridge, N.Y., 12816, or via Paypal, [email protected].

One way or another, Kelly is getting out of that tent and into her trailer. Thanks.