DENVER — Peace in the twilight of life is what Sister Mercy Andraees and the Little Sisters of the Poor take pride in giving their residents.
"That’s what my calling is. Take care of the people, just be with them," said Sister Mercy.
Sister Mercy arrived at the Denver location a year ago, long after a major problem began.
"I’m afraid, very much, of the elevator," Sister Mercy told Denver7.
Elevators in each of the two buildings are a combined age of nearly 100-years-old and their age is starting to show.
Business Manager for Little Sisters of the Poor, Joe Siefried, said problems have been happening more and more in the last six months.
"It’s hit or miss. You might not know when you get in the elevator if you make it to the floor you want to get to," Siefried said.
Little Sisters of the Poor have received $65,000 in donations but it's not nearly enough. Siefried said the organization has a received an estimate of $750,000 to fix the elevators in both buildings. While they could dip into the general fund to fix it, there's concern there wouldn't be much left for anything else.
"We can use some of the cash we’ve been saving. We thought about it for quite a while but with COVID, our resident numbers are down. We’re not allowed to admit anybody. So as people pass on we can’t fill the rooms so of course that affects our cash flow," Siefried said of their financial situation.
Without help from the community, Little Sisters of the Poor and more importantly — it's residents — are stuck.
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