“There aren’t enough words to express how grateful I am to The Bridge Fund for what they did for me,” said 70 year-old Suzanne Karter of New Rochelle. “I had been deeply depressed and frightened for so long.”

Suzanne’s financial problem started over the winter of 2007.

“I suffer from a lot of physical ailments, including systemic scleradoma, and live on about $1700 in Social Security,” she said. “I rent a small house for $1,250 a month and things were okay for many years until my Con Ed bills started to go up.

Last winter, the monthly bill for gas and electric spiked. In addition, my health insurance costs went up after I got a small increase in my Social Security benefits that put me in a different bracket,” Suzanne said. (Each year, the tiny percentage change in cost-of-living benefits, say 2 to 3 percent, will alter the total monthly amount of Social Security income and this can have a cascading effect on health insurance costs, deductible, etc.)

“I knew I needed help and tried a lot of places, but got rejected. Some people were very rude and one actually hung up on me. Finally, someone referred me to The Bridge Fund and they turned my life around.”

The Bridge Fund contacted her landlord and Con Ed and worked out payment plans while bringing her rent and utilities up to date.

Suzanne is now back on financial track, although things remain tight. “I am paying The Bridge Fund back $10 a month,” she said. “I can’t say enough about them. The financial support they provided was a big help but the emotional part of it was above and beyond. They were my lifeline.”