Stranger Raises $16K for Homeless Mother and Daughter
When police officer Jason McDevitt pulled up in front of the strip mall where Eleanor Gehret, 62, and her daughter, Jennifer, 42, had been standing shivering in the rain for two days after they were evicted from their apartment, the mother admitted, “I thought we were going to be arrested for vagrancy.”
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Instead, the Ridley Township, Penn., cop brought the duo food — and hope. “She was dying for something to eat, her lips were chapped,” McDevitt told CBS 3 of Eleanor, a waitress who had failed to pay rent when medical bills for her daughter snowballed beyond their savings. (Jennifer suffered a stroke in October and has endured four surgeries including one procedure on a brain tumor this year).
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The Gehrets, before a stranger decided to help (Photo: CBS Philly)
McDevitt had been tipped off to the homeless pair by a good Samaritan and fellow mom wishing to remain nameless, according to The Delco Times. “I drove past them on my way to work … and asked them how I could help,” the mother wrote in a GoFundMe page that she set up on behalf of the family, including the Gehrets’ dog Max and cat Misty. “They’ve been trying to work with outreach programs but the wait is long and there is a funding crisis …They need some help and I know the kindness and generosity of the Delaware County community and beyond can help them!”
McDevitt and Eleanor Gehret (Photo: CBS Philly)
But help doesn’t even cover what the community managed to accomplish for the grateful mother and daughter, thanks to the anonymous organizer’s fundraising. In just 24 hours, do gooders gave $10,000, gift cards, and food for the family, which the police had temporarily put up in a hotel. Then there was the big reveal: a $6,885.73 check back-paying the Geherts’ rent and covering them through February so that the women could return to their home and get back on their feet. To date, more than $16,000 has poured in, allowing Jennifer to get caught up on some of her medical bills at last.
Officer McDevitt with the Gehrets (Photo: Rick Kauffman/Daily Times)
“You can’t imagine, we sit there at night and we can go to bed, instead of worrying, instead of staying up all night wondering, ‘How are we going to do this?’” Eleanor told the Delco Times, adding, “I was floored, I couldn’t even imagine anything like this happening….They don’t know us, and all these people are willing to help.”
Even local newlyweds pitched in, offering their wedding dinner leftovers to the hungry mother and daughter. “They got married, and they were thinking of us,” said Eleanor. “It’s just mind-boggling.”
(Top photo: Rick Kauffman/Daily Times)
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