Maggie and her three children lost everything when their home in Laconia burned down. Without legal aid, they almost lost access to the vital safety-net programs that were helping Maggie make ends meet.

“All our documentation that the food stamps program and Medicaid wanted was lost in the house fire,” Maggie said. “All my children were born in Hawaii, and I do not have the money to get copies of the documents. And through it all, they sent many different notices, with impossible and confusing deadlines. This kept happening, finally I had enough and knew that I had rights, I just wasn’t sure what they were.”

“That is when I decided to find help and eventually NHLA. NHLA helped to overcome the miscommunication with the case workers. The NHLA advocate helped my family get back on our feet and get the medical care we needed. Working with NHLA gave me confidence to be able to advocate for myself now. Without NHLA, I would be stuck with three children, no home, and no way to feed them.”

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The oldest of six kids in a very poor and dysfunctional home, Cindy left as soon as she could, joining the Navy and sailing around the world. She never saw a healthy relationship growing up, and fell into the same patterns over and over again.

Her long-time boyfriend, the father of her daughter, “would say to me all the time, ‘You don’t want me to hit you. Imagine how bad it would be if I hit you. Everyone would know how worthless you are,'” she said. Then one day, he did, knocking her in the head with a pack of beer cans, and grabbing her by the throat.

She made an appointment at her local crisis center, where she connected with an NHLA attorney, who helped her secure a protective order and custody of the kids.

“I tell my daughter every day how she deserves to be treated. The bad stuff, it’s easy and it’s familiar. But I want to be an example for her – that’s what motivates me to change these patterns, to be stronger. NHLA catapulted me to believing so much more is possible for my life.”

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Despite his dementia and lack of ability to consent, the nursing home where World War II veteran Rudy lives had him sign multiple, lengthy and complicated legal documents and contracts without consulting his daughter and power-of-attorney, Linda.

After his medical care exhausted his Medicare coverage, the facility sent Rudy a bill for $22,000.  The facility eventually filed a suit to collect the alleged debt, including a lien on Rudy’s house, his sole asset.

“My father is 92 years old, and has been suffering from dementia for years,” Linda said. “Thanks to a local community health organization, he is able to live at home and receive care from visiting nurses. However, the draw back is that he was alone when a sheriff came by his house and served him legal papers. You can’t even imagine how upset he was.”

NHLA represented Rudy and Linda in their challenge of the lawsuit, and won.

“NHLA took a huge burden off our shoulders. I felt such relief,” Linda said.  “I was confident, and reassured NHLA knows what they are doing. I would be praising NHLA even if we didn’t win the case, because every single person who helped us were kind, dedicated, and competent.”

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