web1_TTL090415wbrotary.jpg

Wilkes-Barre Rotary Club turns 100 this year

<p>It was an incredibly beautiful article that never should have seen the light of day. With it was a picture that told its own heart-wrenching story.</p><p>&#8220;Community to rescue&#8221; was the front-page headline in Thursday&#8217;s Times Leader. &#8220;Man won&#8217;t lose home to tax sale.&#8221;</p><p>This isn&#8217;t just any man. Abram Belles is 91 years old and is one of the few remaining World War II veterans.</p><p>He was in danger of losing the Wilkes-Barre Township home he&#8217;s lived in for 67 years because he owed back taxes on it. He was forced to take out loans, so his home would be removed from the list of county tax auctions.</p><p>Thanks to local hero John Daily, who used to clean Belles&#8217; carpets, the community did indeed come to his rescue with donations he solicited online. One woman, who lives outside the county, was so moved by this elderly man&#8217;s plight, she donated $2,300.</p><p>His back taxes and current ones are now paid in full.</p><p>Belles, who&#8217;s a widower and lives alone, was pictured leaning against Daily, who delivered the good news to him in person Wednesday. His expression, captured by talented Times Leader photographer Aimee Dilger, was of a man who has just had the heavy weight of profound worry lifted from his fragile shoulders. He looked positively beside himself with gratitude. I couldn&#8217;t take my eyes off that picture.</p><p>It made me so proud of our community. It evoked sadness that someone in his 90s was forced to fear even for one single minute that he may lose his home. And it made me angry that he actually could have.</p><p>Our society bails out those far less deserving than a man who has worked and paid taxes his entire life. How could a retired electrician, someone who fought for our country, ever have to bear such a heavy burden of facing an eviction? One can only imagine where he would have gone if the community didn&#8217;t rally after reading Jennifer Learn-Andes&#8217; poignant article.</p><p>How many other elderly men and women among us live alone, have no one to take care of them and become afraid when their tax bills arrive, not knowing how they&#8217;ll pay for them?</p><p>In particular, that&#8217;s something a World War II vet like Abram Belles should never, ever have to worry about. Nor should anyone in his or her 70s, 80s or 90s.</p><p>Have you ever seen those touching Wounded Warriors commercials? Who wouldn&#8217;t, if he could, give $19 a month to help them? But every time I see one of these ads, I think why is there a need for such an organization?</p><p>Soldiers who have returned home with no limbs. Young fathers leaning onto their little girls for balance. A wife choking back tears saying that Wounded Warriors made her feel not so alone because there was nothing worse than the feeling of being alone.</p><p>Why isn&#8217;t our government taking care of these wounded warriors&#8217; needs? The government seems to come to the aid of people living in our country illegally, and it makes it far too easy for those who fraudulently collect welfare and food stamps or fake disabilities to collect indefinite Social Security benefits.</p><p>Well, it&#8217;s time to take care of those who really deserve it, and that&#8217;s our men and women who risk their very lives for our liberties. They should want for nothing.</p><p>But as moving as this story was, it contained a disturbing passage regarding a woman who has refused to pay Belles rent because she claims to be his &#8220;go-to girl&#8221; if he needs anything. Learn-Andes reported that Belles also owns what appears to be a rather dilapidated structure he said he was hoping to sell to his tenant Joann Eddy.</p><p>Eddy has lived in the Lehigh Street property for two years rent-free. She said, &#8220;I don&#8217;t owe him any money. I&#8217;ve done a lot for him out of my own pocket.&#8221;</p><p>Oh yeah? Maybe there&#8217;s a lawyer in the community who&#8217;d volunteer to check on the validity of her claim that he agreed to let her live there for free. Or is this the case of someone taking advantage of a vulnerable 91-year-old?</p><p>For now though, Abram Belles can stop worrying about losing the home he loves.</p><p>And thank goodness there are real life guardian angels among us like John Daily who stepped up to help a fellow human being. And a community which was right behind him.</p><style>
.neFileBlock {
	margin-bottom: 20px;
}
.neFileBlock p {
	margin: 0px 0px 0px 0px;
}
.neFileBlock .neFile {
	border-bottom: 1px dotted #aaa;
	padding-bottom: 5px;
	padding-top: 10px;
}
.neFileBlock .neCaption {
	font-size: 85%;
}
</style>
<div class='neFileBlock'>
<div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/web1_TTL090415Belles23.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Abram Belles, 91, of Wilkes-Barre Township, and John Daily share a moment after Daily gave him the receipts for back taxes that were paid off with donations from citizens contributing to a GoFundMe online. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/web1_TTL090415Belles23.jpg</photo0><caption0>Abram Belles, 91, of Wilkes-Barre Township, and John Daily share a moment after Daily gave him the receipts for back taxes that were paid off with donations from citizens contributing to a GoFundMe online. </caption0><photoCredit0>Aimee Dilger | Times Leader </photoCredit0></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/web1_20141024_143817-1-1-2.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Betty Roccograndi Zeroing In </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo1>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/web1_20141024_143817-1-1-2.jpg</photo1><caption1>Betty Roccograndi Zeroing In </caption1><photoCredit1>Aimee Dilger | Times Leader </photoCredit1></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>Betty Roccograndi</p><p>Zeroing In</p></bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta><p>Betty Roccograndi is a Wyoming Valley resident and award-winning journalist. Zeroing In appears weekly.</p></shirttailMeta></div>

Zeroing In: Elderly Wyoming Valley man never should have had to worry about losing his home