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Grandma dropped off at Walmart can't find place to live Suzanne Ricci, 70, was rescued after being abandoned by family at the North Medford Walmart and taken in by Natalie Bogart of Phoenix. Mail Tribune / Denise Baratta Friday Oct 28, 2016 at 6:15 PM Oct 29, 2016 at 9:55 AM Buffy Pollock for the Mail Tribune Choking back tears during a phone call from a local hotel Thursday night, 70-year-old former Sams Valley resident Suzanne Ricci said she could be days — or maybe even hours — from ending up back on the cold streets. Ricci's battle with homelessness began in earnest the night of Oct. 12, when family members dropped her off at the North Medford Walmart. Ricci declined to go into details about her family, but volunteers who stepped in to help her described a volatile, even abusive situation. Trying to “find somewhere safe,” Ricci rolled her non-motorized wheelchair into the Medford store, bought a bottle of orange juice, then found a quiet spot outside when the store closed at midnight. When employees approached her out of concern she had been at the store all night, she explained her family was in distress and that the latest in a series of temporary living situations had become unmanageable. The 86-pound, former ranch owner said her decline began with a messy divorce, a lapse in senior and medical benefits because of paperwork snafus and family issues that took their toll financially and physically. Store employees called Medford police and volunteers for Compassion Highway Project, an outreach program for the homeless. While she calmly finished her orange juice, Ricci told the employees she already knew the outcome. “I told them there was nowhere that would take me and that’s exactly what they found out,” she said. After hours spent calling local resources, police and volunteers learned that Ricci did not meet criteria for most shelters because of complicated medical issues ranging from three different blood disorders and fibromyalgia to spinal stenosis and debilitating arthritis. Other services were maxed out or could not accommodate Ricci’s wheelchair. Nearing 2 a.m., Compassion Highway Project volunteer Natalie Bogart took Ricci home to stay at her Phoenix apartment for the next 10 days, until management for her apartment declared Bogart’s rental contract would not be renewed. “They are saying it’s because I didn’t adhere to the contract with my dog and clean up after her, but then they sent a letter a few days ago stating they ‘applaud my humanitarian effort,’ but that they do not allow homeless, unknown or otherwise to stay in apartments or on the property,” Bogart said. Trinity Presbyterian Church offered to pay a few nights in a hotel, where Ricci spent most of her time calling local facilities for a place to live until several blackouts put her in the hospital Friday. "I have been trying for weeks and weeks and I have not been able to find a place to live," Ricci said Thursday. "My health is not considered life-threatening at this point, so I can't stay in facilities that take care of people with a higher level of medical needs, but I can't go to a shelter because they're not equipped to deal with my medical issues. "I absolutely have no place to go. I have no resources at this moment and I have no money." Bogart said the time she spent with Ricci was an eye-opener to the plight of homeless and low-income seniors. "The day before she ended up at Walmart, she rolled herself down Riverside just looking for a place to sleep. We were waiting for her Medicaid to come in but we can't find a facility that will take her when it does," Bogart said. Social service agencies, while unable to discuss specific cases, acknowledge a lack of housing and gaps between community resources. Connie Saldaña, a planner at Senior and Disabled Services for the Rogue Valley Council of Governments, said her agency addresses cases like Ricci's on a daily basis via the regional Aging and Disability Resource Connection Hotline. "It's really, really bad out there. And people do fall through the cracks. We hear from seniors with nowhere to go. I will say that we get many calls," Saldaña said. “In general, there's more need than there is ability to help people." Medford police Lt. Kerry Curtis said cases like Ricci’s are challenging for local police who rely on community members and churches to step in. Curtis noted "many people over the history of my career where there are no resources for them and it is very sad.” Kathie Young, district manager for the Department of Human Services' Aging and People with Disabilities division, said good Samaritans are often the final safety net. "In some cases, people end up depending on the kindness of strangers. Churches take them in,” Young said. “Sometimes, it can take hours and days and weeks to figure out a permanent financial solution and, sadly, that can mean they have to do something different every day and night in a situation where they don't have a place to live.” Jake Gettman, a deacon for Trinity Presbyterian Church, said church leadership planned to continue to try and help Ricci once she is released from the hospital. “We are reassessing and figuring out what to do next, but it’s really hard when there’s no end in sight. As a church, I know that our motivation is that we want to help people and, for me, I don’t look at this as a government issue as much as it’s a societal issue,” he said. “If we the people of the community aren’t stepping up, then something isn’t right.” Melissa Mayne, founder of Compassion Highway Project, said she hopes that community resources improve. "I'm coming across more and more situations like that where people have no option and it just breaks my heart," Mayne said. "It absolutely disgusts me that we don't have the resources to keep someone from falling through the cracks like she has. "The police called us because they didn't know where she could go but then we didn't either. We literally called everywhere we could to find a place for her. If she was an addict, we could find a place. If she was a battered woman, we could get her in somewhere. ... But she's just someone's grandmother, who was left to fend for herself in a Wal-Mart parking lot." For updates on Ricci, or for ways to help, visit the Compassion Highway Project online, https://www.facebook.com/Compassion-Highway-Project-173761832993287/?fref=ts — Reach freelance writer Buffy Pollock at [email protected].