UNREE DEEMD: ROSEMARY; WHEN THE FAMILY UNIT IS BROKEN

                                                

UNREE DEEMD: ROSEMARY; WHEN THE FAMILY UNIT IS BROKEN

“...Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for by this some have entertained angels without knowing it...” (Hebrew 13:2 NASB).

“...Share your food with the hungry, and give shelter to the homeless. Give clothes to those who need them, and do not hide from relatives who need your help...” (Isaiah 58:7 NLT).

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UnRee told Reginald about RoseMary. RoseMary wasn’t homeless because she’d lost a job, or was on drugs, or was mentally ill, but her reason was unique.

It started with a divorce between her parents. Her mother’s departure from the family started the downward spiral and then her father passed away a few years later. RoseMary was an only child and she was left in her uncle’s care.

RoseMary soon discovered her uncle was selfish and greedy. He had temporary control of her father’s money and he wanted it all to himself. He barely took care of her needs and often she went to bed hungry.

She was 16 years old when her Dad died. Her father was a wealthy, middle class man. RoseMary had been given a new car, but her uncle Ralph wouldn’t allow her to drive it. He registered her in a public school and made her walk miles to a bus stop.

While catching the bus one day, RoseMary discovered her great-uncle sitting on a sideway like a homeless person. She was shocked to find out he was kicked out of the senior care facility her father had put him into and abandoned to a life of poverty and homelessness.

It was that moment RoseMary decided to stay, on the streets, with her Great-Uncle Sam. He tried to discourage her. He told her that her father had left everything to her. She would get part of it on her 18^th birthday and the other part of her 21^st birthday, but RoseMary didn’t care.

It was freezing and it was winter. She didn’t go to school that day, but decided to find a shelter for them both. The shelters were packed in the winter months, but she found one.

She called her uncle and questioned him about Uncle Sam. She told him he could afford it with the money her father had left. But Ralph told her that her father had left him in charge and he refused to pay another dime for their Uncle’s care. Ralph didn’t care about the weather, or that Uncle Sam was disabled Vet from the war, or deaf, or nearly blind, or that he was about to freeze on the streets.

          Uncle Ralph demanded RoseMary to come home, but she refused. RoseMary willingly chose to suffer homelessness with her Uncle Sam, because, as long as Ralph was in her father’s house, she had no home either. It was a nightmare.

RoseMary learned quickly. She hustled to find support for Uncle Sam and get as much government assistant as she could.

Her uncle’s case worker called her Uncle Ralph and asked him could he house Uncle Sam for a while and he said “...No..”

She pleaded with him by telling him his uncle could freeze to death on the cold streets, but Ralph didn’t care.

To make matters worse Ralph claimed he didn’t have an Uncle Sam. The case worker handed RoseMary the phone. Her uncle told her to come home, but she couldn’t bring Uncle Sam. She hung up on him.

That’s how RoseMary became part of the homeless community. She refused to live in the comforts her father left her and leave Uncle Sam on the streets.

RoseMary  became homeless by choice and decided her Uncle Ralph was a selfish, greedy, and hard-hearted jerk. He wasn’t family, but he was someone who’d underhandedly gained control of her father’s wealth and planned to use it on himself.

RoseMary’s father had given her a wonderful, upper middle class life and they lived in a prestigious suburb. RoseMary was a sweet, unpretentious girl, whom most people liked right away, except her Uncle Ralph. Her Uncle Ralph was jealous of the privileged life her father’s wealth favored her with.

Uncle Ralph pretended to be this wonderful brother to her father, when all along he resented him for his money and success. Soon as he got control of his brother's daughter and estate he began to abuse both.

Within weeks of her father’s death, Ralph had his Uncle Sam evicted from the Senior Facility by refusing to pay the bill.

The streets had been brutal on Uncle Sam and he’d been homeless for months. Fortunately, a group called “Veterans on Patrol” were looking after her uncle. They took him to special encampments to keep him safe.  They took care of him as best as possible, but water and supplies were hard to come by.

Her Uncle was elderly, disabled, and almost 75 years old. He had no money, nowhere to go, and couldn’t get a job. The weather was hard on his body and many of the things he was given was blatantly stolen from him.

Because he was elderly and she was young people bullied and stole from them overtly.

Fortunately, she was able to get her Uncle around, in the new wheelchair, her father had purchased him right before he passed. Nonetheless, the longer they stayed on the streets, without the proper medical care, the more concerned she became about her uncle’s health.

Eventually, many shelters begin turning them down and her uncle’s health condition worsen. RoseMary was sick with worried. Then one day, her Uncle Sam asked her about her father’s lawyer, Dennis Hoffman and had she ever spoken to him about her father’s estate.

RoseMary found a way to contact Dennis Hoffman and what she discovered was shocking. Her Uncle was not awarded guardianship over her, after all, but her Uncle Sam was, unless, he was found incompetent.

There was no legal documents to verify Uncle Sam was incompetent to care for her. So Uncle Sam’s rights as her guardian had not be stripped away by the court system.

Uncle Sam was her guardian and not Uncle Ralph. RoseMary and her uncle had been on the streets, together, for over a year.

RoseMary would be 18 years old in a few weeks and she wasn't age appropriate to have the ability to make decisions for herself yet, but Uncle Sam did. He wasn’t feeling well, but nothing was wrong with his mind.

What Uncle Ralph had done was illegal. He’d tried to isolate her  and her uncle by shutting them off from the provisions her father had left for them both. Because RoseMary or Uncle Sam didn’t know better, Ralph had an open door to abuse them as he pleased.

The court had not appointed Ralph as her guardian, but Uncle Sam unless he was deemed incompetent, had been appointed.

Uncle Sam was in the Senior Care center by choice. It was for active Seniors. Upon her father’s death he was to move in with RoseMary and make decisions for her care as well as handle her father’s estate.

Everything was being controlled by Uncle Ralph and her father’s estate was worth millions.

Ralph was trying to bilk the estate by controlling the money. He was placed under temporary guardianship and conservatorship without a “real” court hearing and Dennis Hoffman had no reason to object. After all Ralph was "his" brother. He had everybody fooled with his phoniness. 

However, because her father had appointed another guardian and it had not been legally determined he was incompetent, Uncle Sam was in charge.

In the meantime, Ralph had been trying to sell off some of her father’s assets and was being paid thousands a month, but the estate had started resisting his monetary requests.

The Circuit Judge and Dennis Hoffman started questioning Ralph’s money behaviors and the professional guardianship payments he was asking for.

Ralph’s exploitation of his guardianship of  RoseMary was under investigation. Ralph had already put away and hidden, for himself, assets and payments totalling $750.000.

Her father had provided for her care if something were to happen to him. He was a loving and noble man. Uncle Ralph was NOT his first choice of guardianship. Her Uncle Sam was a lot like her Dad and Dennis Hoffman helped them set things straight.

Hoffman set RoseMary and her Uncle Sam up in one of her father’s downtown apartments. Uncle Sam was taken to the hospital, first, and they begin to take care of his medical and health needs.

RoseMary’s experiences, on the streets, with her uncle changed her life. She never knew so many people were poor and always on the move from one place to another.

She couldn’t help everyone. It was so, very, very many people who faced homelessness on a daily basis, but she wanted to help the “Veterans on Patrol.” Her Uncle would have never survived without them. She went to Gerald Sides, who lead the movement in her city and asked how she could help.

So, Dennis Hoffman, helped her buy a huge lot near the city and they worked with Gerald to establish an encampment that was safe and more structured. Gerald told her how she could make the encampment sanitaryand healthy. He suggested security, if possible, would be a plus. He also said there needed to be rules and guidelines in place to protect the surrounding environment.

Gerald said the “Veterans on Patrol” were good about keeping crime down, but there was always those few who committed crimes, anyway.

 RoseMary bought a piece of property that didn’t threatened businesses with the homeless population, it belonged to her, so it wasn’t a illegal public space, and a few local charities had agreed to absorb some of the cost of maintaining the encampment.

RoseMary knew she was taking on a big project, but she wasn’t alone. There were several church groups, missions, and social service agencies that agreed to combine their efforts by contributing food, clothing, and important services. This would enable the encampment to sustain itself and truly offer a place to transition from homelessness to conventional living again.

Eventually RoseMary and her Uncle Sam went back to her father’s house and Ralph threatened to cqll the police. RoseMary told him to go right ahead, but they would be picking them up, and he would be indicted.

RoseMary explained to Ralph their discoveries and what was about to happen.

When Dennis Hoffman walked into the house Ralph took off. Ralph was just a temporary, emergency guardian that was appointed, because Uncle Sam was out of the country.

Uncle Sam was able to get the temporary guardianship dismissed and he provided all the necessary documents that verified his guardian and conservatorship.

RoseMary had total confidence her Uncle Sam would never exploit her and she was happy he was the one responsible for her care and her father’s estate. They became very close.

The Senior Care Facility that her Uncle Sam had stayed with became volunteers at the Encampment for the “Veterans on Patrol”

Her Uncle had gotten evicted and ended up homeless, but it turned into a good thing. While on the streets she had met UnRee. UnRee was a survivor of another kind and once they shared a meal together.

Though she faced the same issues as any other homeless person, on the street, she wasn’t simply looking to survive poverty, but she talked about a man named Jesus looking for her.

Everyone else scrambled desperately to find resources to survive and though UnRee needed them too, she had a different perspective about it and she SHARED her perspective with RoseMary.

UnRee knew the streets and she preferred them over whatever her living situation had been previous to homelessness.

However she admitted homelessness was hard, heart breaking, and brutal, most of the time, but she was confident Jesus would find her soon. When Rose Mary had met her it had already been years and she was still hoping in this Jesus

She’d told RoseMary that it was power in the name of Jesus and then she asked her if there was anything she needed. RoseMary said she needed to get back home to her father’s house, so she could better care for herself and Uncle Sam.

UnRee said, “ Jesus, help RoseMary and her Uncle. Thank you...” Shortly after that her Uncle remembered Dennis Hoffman and the rest is history.

Every day since, RoseMary wondered about UnRee’s request to Jesus and wanted to tell her what happened. She was still looking for her to this very day and wondered had she been a angel.

“...Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for by this some have entertained angels without knowing it...” (Hebrew 13:2 NASB).