'Rotary Angels' Keep Vulnerable Senior Off The Streets
After an elderly woman was scammed out of her retirement, Dan Moody and members of Wenatchee's Confluence Rotary Club stepped up
Last September, Dan Moody met an elderly woman who had been scammed out of her retirement savings.
They met in the produce section at Albertsons. Moody, with years of experience in produce, helped her pick the best of what she was looking for and they got to talking.
As they spoke he learned she had graduated from the same high school as his mother and aunt. They made plans to have coffee the next day.
“And that’s when I learned she’d been scammed out of her retirement,” he said.
She gave out sensitive financial information over the phone and that was that. A woman in her late 70s had lost everything.
“People work harder to not work and scam than they do to work,” Moody said. “And they do their homework over social media these days.”
He said once she got scammed she started receiving more scam calls on a daily basis. There were also letters, which he advised that she take to the authorities. It only added to the considerable stress she was under.
From September through February, Moody supplied her with boxes, bubble wrap, and moral support as she went through the process of applying for an assisted living facility through the housing authority.
“It came down to February. She needed to be out of the facility she was in in Wenatchee,” Moody said. “So I announced it at a couple Rotary meetings and you know, the Rotary angels volunteered.”
Over the last weekend of February, Moody, along with fellow Wenatchee Confluence Rotary Club members Sarah Achterhof and Rob, Steve and Tina Tidd moved all of her belongings to her new residence in Manson.
“It was really a miracle because this is a person who was at wit’s end. It was all or nothing,” Moody said. “And Rotary came through.”
The place they moved her into is a couple of blocks from a Link Transit bus stop, and through public transit has access to everything she needs in Wenatchee. She was already cutting down on driving and the bus fare is free, which saves her money.
Moody, a modest man, credits his fellow Rotarians more than himself for stepping up and helping out.
“This is one of those situations where Rotary came through,” he said. “Otherwise, she would have been out on the street. It would have been just horrific.”
Moody called it “a miracle,” but the solution to this woman’s problem was not so much supernatural but temporal. This humble man took the time to get to know a stranger and ended up helping her through a time of great need, uncertainty, and stress.
If it was a miracle, then Dan Moody is a miracle man.
A Few Additional Details, Resources, and Updates
My wife and I are members of Confluence Rotary Club, although I refer to myself as a “member at large” currently since I have not made a meeting in quite some time. But I was president of the club in 2020-21 and served on the board and in various officer positions for years before that. I can personally attest that Confluence Rotary is made up of some genuinely good people who make a positive impact on the Wenatchee Valley every day.
Moody said in our interview: “If we don’t know how to help we know who to get to help,” he said. “And that’s the great thing about our club – with the breadth of the membership both in age and vocation.”
That’s true, in my experience, and while most service clubs are made up of mostly retired folks (not a bad thing), Wenatchee Confluence is a club made up of folks from all age ranges, backgrounds, professions, and socio-economic levels. If you would like to learn more about Confluence Rotary, you can visit the website here.
I’d also like to say that the Tidds – Rob and his wife Bealinda and Steve and his wife Tina – are some of the most giving and selfless people in the Wenatchee Valley. Rob is always the first to volunteer, the first one there, and the last to leave.
Avoiding Scams
According to the National Council on Aging, these are the top five financial scams targeting older adults. If you or someone you know has been the victim of a scam, the US Department of Justice has a National Elder Fraud Hotline you can call.
While it “does not serve in an investigatory capacity, case managers will identify appropriate reporting agencies, and provide information to callers to assist them in reporting, or connect callers directly with the appropriate agency.”
You can also visit the senior fraud page on the Washington State Attorney General’s website for a list of links with resources relating to more specific types of fraud or scam situations.
Unfortunately, it is very hard to identify, locate and successfully prosecute scammers who might not even be in the same city or state as you. So it’s really important to get educated, know the warning signs, and avoid scams.
Update on Part II of the Wenatchee Valley Humane Society Series
I was planning on publishing Part II of my series on the Wenatchee Valley Humane Society today, but I have a couple of additional questions for the organization’s spokesperson, Neil Neroutsos, and want to give him a few business days to get back to me. So I will publish that piece later this coming week.
In case you missed it, I wrote my Source ONE News column about this issue this week and you can find that here. There’s some additional reporting in that column that is not in Part I.
Looking Ahead
The other story I’ll be keeping an eye on this week is the trial of Michael E. Wilson in Chelan County Superior Court. He was arrested for allegedly sexually assaulting young men from a Bible study he was leading and has ties to Grace City Church.
His trial is set to start Tuesday, April 18, and I will be there, notebook and recorder in hand.
Great piece about a wonderful organization and its marvelous people.
What a GREAT story about such unselfish people coming to the assistance of someone is need of support,, friendship, and encouragement. These individuals represent the BEST in kindness and thoughtfulness!!! Such great citizens contributing to the well-being of others. Super article!