The Official Modest Needs Blog

Make Them Smile: Restoring Dignity with Dental Work

Fixing your teeth is not optional. You have to have teeth to eat and you have to eat to live. And yet, far too many people are unable to afford essential dental care.

The state of the health care industry in America is, unquestionably, complicated. A vast number of Americans are completely uninsured, and even if they are covered, many, many employers don't include dental insurance in their plans. The elderly and the young are especially at risk, as dental insurance is not part of programs like Medicare or Medicaid.

That's why Modest Needs receives heartbreaking requests from families and individuals who are suffering terribly with unseen dental issues. Like this person who can't chew properly. Or this person who "hasn't smiled in years." Or this person who is insecure about her teeth when interviewing for jobs. Or this person whose broken teeth cut his mouth while he sleeps. Or this three year old who risks serious infection. Or this single mom who put off fixing her teeth so she could escape her abusive husband. Or this person who has no choice but to eat baby food.

Helping these individuals with unaffordable dental bills goes so, so far. You restore dignity. You restore confidence. You restore pleasure. You remedy pain. You give them every reason to smile.

Want to help someone with a dental crisis? You can search our database for applications with the words "dentist," "teeth" or "dentures." And your first-time donation in 2011 will be matched, making your gift to someone in need go twice as far.

[Photo by Lin Pernille]

Application of the Day: Help Disabled Woman Have Outside Contact

With a donation as small as $2, you can help a severly disabled woman have ever important contact with the outside world:

We have gotten caught up on all of our bills but now need a little help with our rent this month. My wife has severe breathing problems and is on oxygen therapy; because her breathing is so bad, the only time she leaves the house is for doctor's appointments.

Our phone/internet/cable bill will be shut off by the end of the month and my wife will be cut off from everyone and everything. If we can get our rent paid we will be able to keep our phone on so she can communicate with the outside world. Thank you all for taking time to read our story; we hope you have a wonderful day!

Only 431 Modest Needs points are needed to make this thing most of us take for granted a reality.

Set to Expire: 21 Chance to Change a Life Today

Below are a list of requests from families and individuals that have been vetted and double checked for legitimacy. These requests come from single parents, the disabled, the working poor. What they have in common is that they each expire at the end of the month, and that each one fulfilled can prevent the applicant from sliding into irreversible poverty:

1. Help With Utility Bill
2. House Payment
3. Missed Work-Need Help with Electric
4. Family With Sick Child - Car Help
5. Electric Bill
6. Below Grade Level Readers Need Help
7. Stage 4 Cancer: Need Rent Help
8. Rent Assistance
9. Diabetic with High Electric Bill
10. Moving My Furniture Out Of Storage
11. Single Mom W/MS - Heating Bill
12. Disabled Parapeligic - Mortgage
13. Need Service Dog
14. Urgent Car Repairs
15. Emergency Medical - Need Rent Help
16. Car Repair
17. Payoff For Dentures
18. Single Mom Abandoned: Mortgage
19. Gas and Water for Two Greenhouses
20. Disabled Couple Needing Ramps
21. Build an Anti-Bullying Website

If you have never helped someone through Modest Needs before, now is the *best* time. We have a generous matching grant in place for first-time donors that can double or even triple your gift. There is no better time to reach out than the present.

[Photo by marc falardeau]

Application of the Day: One-Time Business Owner on Verge of Losing it All

The Applicant of the Day is a single mom in San Diego who was a business owner with her own home. Then the recession hit and she lost almost everything:

Hi, I'm a single Mom with a wonderful son (is there any other kind?). I owned and operated a boutique for six years, but sadly, I had to close 2-1/2 years ago due to the economy. I subsequently declared bankruptcy, but was able to keep my car and my home.

I have had a hard time finding employment since then and have worked odd jobs which have not allowed me to keep up with my financial obligations. My house is on the verge of foreclosure and I am having to walk away from it. I have fallen behind on my car payments, and have just ONE final car payment that was due in February.

Please help me with the final payment on my car so we can just concentrate on finding an affordable place to live and reestablishing ourselves.

It seems that most of our financial doors have closed which means there should be at least one out there opening up for us. I have to believe it. Thank you from the bottom of my heart (and my son's).

You can help this struggling single mother keep the vehicle she so desperately needs in order to make a living and support her son. She's just one payment away owning her car outright, a step that will put her on the road to self-sufficiency.

Pretending To Be Poor: Evaluation or Exploitation?

A sizable portion of the population that Modest Needs serves is the working poor, the disabled, those hit by unemployment. These individuals and families deal with the burden of living paycheck to paycheck day in and day out. They know what it is like to choose between wants and needs. They know the value of a dollar.

Not everyone is in this situation. One such person is Tania Bruguera, an artist, who plans to pretend to be poor:

Though she's shown her past work at various revered art institutions around the world, Bruguera will live for the next 12 months in an apartment in Corona, Queens, with five illegal immigrants and their six American-born children. She will work minimum-wage jobs and attempt to scrape by without health insurance. In other words, she'll live as millions of people in the United States—legal or no—already do, she'll just be doing it for art's sake.

One thing immediately setting Bruguera apart from her immigrant roommates is that her project is being supported by $85,000 in grants from various arts organizations. With that money, Bruguera has founded Immigrant Movement International. The group operates out of a renovated storefront and seeks to "blend politics and art to empower immigrants." The only problem is that most of the immigrants in Bruguera's neighborhood aren't really interested in an art project.

They ask for English classes, jobs and legal help—services outside [Bruguera's] training. "They don’t want any art at all," Ms. Bruguera said. They want "very concrete and mundane things," she said. "This is what their life is."

While it is impossible to know the true intent of Bruguera in taking on this project, to say that it might leave plenty of people with bad tastes in their mouths, is likely an understatement. She's getting a large grant for taking on the struggles that millions of Americans face every day--a grant that could be used to change the lives of thousands of the working poor.

Is this project one that will inform and enlighten others about the hardships of those living on the edge of poverty's door? Or is it selfish exploitation of individuals who have no choice in the matter of how they live?

Let us know your thoughts on this already controversial art project wherein a woman pretends to be poor for an entire year, and the art foundation she plans to set up with her $85,000 grant.

Application of the Day: Help Her Do What It Takes to Take Care of Herself

The Applicant of the Day is a single mother who faced a hardship when she became unemployed, like so many during the Great Recession. Rather than let it take her under, this mom moved herself and her son to a cheaper apartment so that they can make ends meet. Unfortunately, moving can be expensive, and she just needs help one time in order to stay on track and keep her head above water.

This request is already 71% funded.

You can help this single parent remain self-sufficient and independent. (And new first-time donors can have their gifts doubled or tripled thanks to a generous matching grant now in place.)

 

One Word Sunday

Tripled!

Application of the Day: New Job, but Pay is Far Away

The Applicant of the Day was hit with a lay-off during the recession and has been scraping by. Now he has a new job lined up, but won't get his first paycheck in time to cover rent:

I am a good, hard working man that got laid off, receiving the minimum on unemployment and have been barely keeping up with my bills and rent. I am a good mechanic so I have been doing side jobs to feed myself and keep up on bills as much as I can. I won't have the full amount for April's rent. Thankfully I landed this new job starting March 21st, the only downfall is that I don't get my first paycheck until three weeks after (the pay is biweekly).

I have spoken to my landlord she has been nice enough to not charge me a late fee as she does understand my situation. With this grant I can begin a fresh start and new job with peace in mind. Anything that the donors can do to help me would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.

One-time assistance will allow this individual to get fully back on his feet.

Who You've Helped: Modest Needs Grant Recipients

You know that Modest Needs helps people who are hard-working, self-sufficient--people who fall between the cracks. But who are they exactly?

See for yourself.

We have nearly 400 photos of people helped by your generous donations--and these are just a fraction of the many thousand who have remained independent thanks to your gifts.

Check out the photo galleries created on Facebook that show you exactly who has been helped through Modest Needs. Seeing the smiling faces of individuals changed by your pocket change will brighten your day.

Application of the Day: Help Single Mom Get Kids to the Doctor

This single mother is a full-time student in efforts to provide a better life for herself and her children. You can help her get to and from the doctors her kids can't do without:

I am a single mother of 2 kids. I am a full-time college student working on my second year and planning on graduating May of 2012. I travel an hour away 4 days a week to attend classes. My children both have medical needs that unfortunately prevent me from working. My daughter is ADHD and has kidney and bladder problems. We have to travel 2 hours away every month to do checkups from her kidney surgery.

She also sees another doctor for her ADHD and she has vision problems so we travel to see her eye doctor as well. My son is a non allergic asthmatic. He goes to 2 different doctors. The only income I have is child support and I only receive a small amount a month. My grants from school I get once a semester and a semester is 4 months long.

I recently replaced my fuel rail, fuel pressure regulator, right brakes, and tires and I am behind on monthly bills because those expenses equaled over $1000 and that's our only transportation. I am asking for help with my phone bill so we can stay in contact with doctors and family members. Thank-you for your help.

Assisting this family in remaining self-sufficient and independent happens right behind this link.