Re: Michele's website & future plans

[Guest guest]

Dear Rose,

It has been a dream of mine for years, and when my husband's mother passed

away and because of the foresight of his dad, who passed away years ago,

there was an inheritance, we were able to move out of Florida, the heat is

absolutely horrid if one cannot tolerate it! It is helping us to live while

my husband starts a new career with AFLAC, which is taking several months as

he gets commissions only.

I am very close to actually getting started on the project, just have to

find a day with enough energy to make phone calls and get rid of this

" vampire syndrome " I seem to be in.

My take on all of these illnesses is that people are getting sicker younger,

and Social Security was not written for people under retirement age to use

long term. Compared to what I would be making if I had not gotten sick, my

SSDI plus LTD seems pitiful, and it is much more than most chronically ill

people on SSI are trying to live on.

And as for a support system, I know first hand how hard it is to keep up

with friends who go on with their lives, all my friends are online and sick,

but not all of them are fortunate enough to have understanding husbands like

mine, many are either single or their husbands and family have left them and

they have no support system.

In the last few weeks I have met some people that can help me with getting

started with this project, the " red tape " I must go thru to open up a 501c3

non profit corp. in PA. And I am starting with a small version, Townsend

House, where we can go thru the learning curve without making huge mistakes.

I already have at least one person who will be moving to PA, has to leave CA

because she lives in a valley where the pollution is the highest in the

country, and have a few other possibilities. It may start out as roommates

in a rented apartment but it is a start.

Initially, it was for PWCs (Persons With CFS) but PWC has a new meaning for

me now, especially since I have entered the Lyme Disease community, not only

do we share the symptoms, but we share the problems of trying to survive in

a culture that is not ready to finance long term illnesses, it now means

Persons With Chronic illness.

And I do not want a nursing home, there are enough of them around, simply an

independent living facility with services available to residents when they

need them. Like, you may want to do your own laundry one week, but another

week you may not be able to. And food, I know that some days I have lived

on Chocolate Milk because I was unable to fix anything else, luckily, my

husband would come home and make dinner. Services such as that, available

when needed but a kitchen that you are welcome to come into and cook if you

feel up to it!

And traveling to doctors, hope to have someone on staff who can drive if

needed and vehicles that can be used if wanted. The range of disabilities

and needs that these chronic illnesses have, not only between people, but

also within one person's life makes it hard to know who needs how much and

when and where.

We hope to build a cabin on a wooded lot (I know, watch out for ticks, hehe)

for my husband and I but I also feel that a large (or should I say long) one

story lodge would serve as Townsend Village with possibly adding cabins on

the property for anyone who does not want to live in the main house, or has

recovered enough or .....

I even have a commercial real estate contact person who replied to some

research I did online from FL and is ready to help me with the project of

finding property with or without buildings we could use. I'd rather find

property with some buildings we could use, it would make startup time

sooner.

I also have been in contact with Leonard and his past assistant, who

is now graduated but working along the same lines, (brain fog, can't

remember name) who are working on something similar in Chicago, only

difference is they are published researchers in CFS and related illnesses

and have taken advantage of the HUD offering of funds for housing for

persons with disabilities. They are both members of my TownsendVillage

group, which has been very inactive lately since there has been no progress

lately, but then they were aware of that possibility.

I could go on and on about this project, but I am excited to just be

contacting a lawyer about the first step which I believe is getting a

license to do business in PA for which I need articles of incorporation,

which I think my husband has already written up, he had extra time in FL but

is too busy to help much now. We have a few books so have an idea about the

red tape, but I definitely need to find someone healthy to be sure it is

done right, I definitely want a non-profit corp. so we can afford to move

people in, and perhaps rent on a sliding scale, $0.00 being on one end of

course!

I also envision keeping vitamins and supplements on hand so noone has to go

out and buy them, prescription meds are another story, but would like to

have money available for those that cannot afford to pay for them or help

them get them for free on programs that are available.

Like I said, I could go on and on.....

Hugs from a Light-HouseKeeper finally in Pennsylvania

(Anyone can clean the house, only you can catch up on your rest,)

Michele E. Townsend, FMS/90,ME/CFS/94,LD/??(Dx01),SSDI/95

mailto:michtown@... and homepages:

http://msnhomepages.talkcity.com/SupportSt/michtown/default.htm

With a dream to become an Inn-House-Keeper! Join at:

TownsendVillage or by sending

a blank email to TownsendVillage-subscribe

----- Original Message -----

From: " Rose " Sent: Tuesday, July 31, 2001 9:51 AM

> You must really miss Florida and being around your beautiful family. But

it seems you have some wonderful plans for the future, with your Townsend

Village plans. (I also explored your Townsend Village site.) What a great

idea. How did you ever come up with something like this?

[Guest guest]

Michele,

Your dream is really wonderful and it seems you are putting into reality well.

Maybe people could send you resources that will help the residents with the

meds, med. help, etc., like www.themedicineprogram.com. I will keep you in my

prayers for success.

The human spirit is stronger than anything that can

happen to it.

C.