Saturday fundraiser in Oregon geared to help woman living in tent at state park

OREGON – A woman living in a tent at a campsite in Lowden State Park now has a vehicle to call her own. And the Oregon man helping her get back on her feet hopes that is just a stepping stone en route to finding her a new, permanent residence.

Sarah Wright, 69, took ownership of the 1999 3500 Dodge cargo van donated by Brad Parkinson, 59, of Oregon on Monday.

“We went to the DMV on Monday, got her new plates, updated her driver’s license and then went to State Farm for the insurance coverage,” said Parkinson, who personally paid $600 for six months of coverage for the van. “She is mobile and legal and ready to go.”

Wright and her 6-year-old dog are currently living in a tent at a campsite at Lowden.

She previously lived in Polo before the apartment building she was living in was cited by the city as unfit for human occupancy and has since been slated for demolition.

Because of Luna and her three cats, which are currently staying with a friend in Polo, Wright has been unable to find rental housing that allows her to keep her pets.

“I’ve applied for housing, but all I can take is one service dog, which Luna is, and one cat. And I have three cats. All I have are my animals, and I am not going to give them up. Stuff [doesn’t] matter to me,” Wright said.

Parkinson is one Oregon resident who has been helping Wright secure more permanent accommodations.

He first met Wright when he was walking his dogs at Lowden. He said he stopped and talked with her and knew immediately that he needed to help her.

“She is a lovely woman,” Parkinson said. “I thought, ‘No, we are not going to let this happen. We are going to fix this. We are going to help her.’”

Parkinson jump-started that effort by donating the van to Wright and has plans to give her his 1975, 13-foot camper to use – if need be.

“I have my old camper, but it needs some work, so I want to see what happens on Saturday and see if someone else steps forward with a place to rent. Then we could bypass the camper,” Parkinson said.

He also spearheaded a fundraising effort for Wright at the Oregon Napa Auto Parts store, where he works as a driver.

“We have a donation jar at the store,” Parkinson said. “Now we need to raise money to help Sarah.”

Cash donations can be made at Napa Auto Parts. Wright does not keep cash at her campsite.

On Saturday, a motorcycle fundraiser called “Men With Motorcycles” will take place from noon to 2 p.m. at the Ogle County Brewery, a downtown Oregon business.

The event is open to motorcyclists as well as the general public and will include a raffle and drive to Lowden State Park to visit Wright.

“Yes, I know it’s right before Christmas. But what a great way to spend the day,” Parkinson said. “I know some motorcycles are going to show up. However, I really need everyone in our community to show up and support this.

“Please, support OCB for helping to facilitate this. I could not have done this without OCB and Bad Ash Cigars.”

Parkinson said hundreds of people have been following his posts on social media about Wright.

“If everyone stops by with a small donation, it will change the life for someone. So many of you have visited Sarah and know it’s worth it, and our help is going to make a difference,” Parkinson said. “She is very grateful and thankful and asked for none of this.”

The raffle will include gift cards from the Ogle County Brewery, Bad Ash Cigars, Alfano’s, Napa Auto Parts, Kegel Harley-Davidson and Fox River Harley-Davidson. For detailed information about the fundraiser, visit https://fb.me/e/47QMgVWbH or https://www.facebook.com/oglebrewery.

“Love and kindness is the answer. Help if you can,” Parkinson said.

Sarah’s plight

A native of Virginia, Wright moved to Illinois in 2011 to be near her father. In 1998, she visited the Polo area and White Pines State Park with her dad.

“I fell in love with Polo,” she said. “My dad took me to White Pines State Park, and it immediately reminded me of where I grew up.”

Her path to living in a tent at Lowden included being flooded from her rental home near Fulton, living out of a storage unit, staying in an unheated garage loft in the Rock Falls/Sterling area (offered by a friend at no charge) and a homeless shelter.

“In Polo, the landlord allowed me to have my dog and cats, and I thought he was a good guy, but then the home was condemned, and I had to move,” she said.

During those months, she continued to seek a place for herself and her pets, and she has applied for housing through the Ogle County Housing Authority.

“This is better than the shelter,” she said, pointing to her three-season tent. “There was too much drama there, and someone stole my stuff.”

During her days at the shelter, the Whiteside County Animal Control took care of her pets.

“They were wonderful. They took care of my cats and dog. I can’t give them enough praise,” Wright said.

She started camping at White Pines State Park and Lowden in April, alternating between the two, adhering to the parks’ 14-night consecutive stay limit.

“I’ve been at this site since the middle of October,” she said.

Without a vehicle, Wright has relied on the kindness of others and one Polo man in particular, Mark McGinnis, who moved her and her belongings to and from each park every two weeks during the summer.

“Mark had been taking me to all the housing meetings, and he knows all about the drama with the landlord,” Wright said. “He deserves a big ‘hallelujah’ because I know he’s missed family events to help me. He’s taken me to doctor appointments. He’s a real hero of this story.”

McGinnis, a bus driver for the Polo School District, said he has known Wright for about two years.

“She is a wonderful lady, and she has done a lot of things. She has all kinds of stories,” McGinnis said.

McGinnis has a handicapped-accessible van and has transported other Polo residents to and from doctor appointments and to grocery stores at no charge.

“They pay for the gas, I volunteer my time,” McGinnis said, noting that the Faith United Methodist Church in Polo also has reimbursed him for gas for trips.

“When her apartment building was condemned, I moved her belongings to several storage units that she had rented. And then, every 14 days, we loaded up my trailer and we moved her from one campground to another,” McGinnis said. “Sarah has kept me quite busy. It’s just something I saw the need to do.”

Wright’s cats are staying with Kathy Wragg, also of Polo, while Wright and Luna stay at Lowden.

Inside her dome tent, Wright has cots, a heater and a small cooking area. The tent is covered in blue tarps to help keep it warm and dry. She keeps water in jugs, collected from one of the park’s public drinking faucets, and has access to electricity at the campsite. She said she has plenty of camping experience.

“I’ve got my snowshoes ready for when it snows,” she said smiling.

Wright said she worked in law enforcement while in Virginia and spent a few years in security for a retail store in Virginia Beach in addition to various other jobs.

She said she was on disability after a back injury but now has Social Security as her sole source of income.

On Dec. 14, her mom, Anne Goney, 87, of Abingdon, Virginia, called.

“I hate to see you living like this at your age,” she told her daughter.

Goney said she was thankful for everyone helping her daughter.

“I have been so upset with her, and I just want to thank everyone so much for helping her,” Goney said during the call. “I don’t have money to bring her home.”

A lot of that help has come after a post on social media about Wright’s plight.

Since that post, many people have stopped by Wright’s campsite with supplies to help her during her stay.

Mike James of Dixon brought Wright a tote full of supplies, including a heater, flashlights, electrical cords and small propane tanks.

“I had the heater, but the rest of the items I bought,” James said as he dropped off the tote last week.

McGinnis said he has been monitoring the recent outpouring of help for Wright.

“I would love to see her get an apartment,” McGinnis said.

Charlie Kitzmiller and Sherry Crumbaker of Oregon have also been instrumental in helping Wright. They stopped by with a load of freshly laundered clothes for Wright on Dec. 15.

“They did my laundry for me,” said Wright, carrying the bag of clean clothes to the tent. “And a mobile groomer stopped by, and Luna had a bath and nail trim.”

Kitzmiller and Crumbaker learned of Wright when they saw her tent at the campground.

“We drove through the park, but she wasn’t here when we stopped,” Kitzmiller said. “We came back the next day, and we stopped and talked with her. After we talked to her, we knew we were going to help her.

“The snowball was small when it started rolling, but now it is the size of a barrel. People are asking, ‘How can I help?’”

“She’s very sincere,” Crumbaker said. “And we believe in her.”

Wright said she is overwhelmed by the outpouring of support and donations

“This is life-changing,” she said. “I haven’t asked for all of this. The heroes are all the ones helping me.”