I am asking for your help. Million Dollar Christmas Contest

December 6, 2004

MILLION DOLLAR CHRISTMAS This is a contest that is nationwide at various radio stations across the US, the larger ones. Anyone can register at those radio stations. I am including a letter from Hanna and myself about my beautiful friend Patti. If you feel you can please register on Patti's behalf. You can use my name, number and address, below. I would appreciate it sooooo much. As you can see, Patti is so deserving of help. The contest gives out various cash prizes and one person can win a million dollars, but it is about volume. They pick randomly, and then they read the letters. Please help! If you can't find the contest where you live feel free to register for any other nationwide contest. Thanks!!!!!!

Kelly Wortkoetter

808 North Main Street

Meadville, PA 16335

phone: 814 336 2721

email: kellykebby

Hello, I'm entering for my friend Patti. She deserves this more than anyone I know. A vibrant, active child, when she was 12 she contracted polio. She was put in an iron lung and barely survived. Since that time, she has been quadriplegic, unable to move anything but her head and two fingers on one hand. As an adult, she went to college, got her masters in social work and has spent the years using this to help homeless people find shelter, poor people to keep their apartments, etc. She was married for 10 years but her husband said he could not handle the disability any longer and he left. She is 62 now and recently retired from her social work and currently finding her financial resources suffering. Despite this, she still volunteers at social organizations and churches almost every day. Patti is my best friend. There is no one on Earth like her.

She is always there for me with love and support, empathy and advice. She has many friends who adore her. Many of these friends, like myself, started out as her personal care attendants. They all learn from watching her kindness, her dignity, and her faith . Her situation has made her vulnerable and accessible at times to the wrong people and she has been hurt by a few of them. Despite everything, she maintains a great faith in God and in people. I wish I could give her a wonderful gift this Christmas. Money to Patti means simply, being able to get out of bed. She must pay people to help her with every single thing she does, all the things we take for granted daily. Her life has been like a glass house, workers coming in and out of it constantly, but there are days when she doesn't have the money to get out of bed, or to pay someone to come and make food for her. I want security for my

beautiful friend. If I could, I would give her the stars and the moon, the sun, the heavens, everything. She is truly so deserving. She is optimistic and generous. A talented writer and poet, she publishes Christian poetry and helps other people cope with disabilities by writing articles for magazines. She inspires me like no one else and is the best friend anyone could ever have. I want her to know how much she means to me and my family. We love her dearly. I know that she is worried about ending up in a nursing care facility in the future and she is not ready to go there. If her financial situation improved, she could continue to afford the wonderful assisted living facility she is in, which allows her to have her own small apartment. If she somehow got a lot of money, her future would be secure. She would be able to hire more workers and maybe even own a small house which is her dream. And if she were the one-million dollar

winner, I know she would use it in the wisest most generous ways possible. That is the person she is, kind and giving. I feel so lucky and blessed to know Patti. How does one write the letter of a lifetime? All I can do is try, for a beautiful soul that has known unbelievable obstacles in her life, who believes in the good inside each one of us, to find some great measure of peace here in that goodness. Sincerely, Kelly Wortkoetter

Hello, I am writing in to tell you about my friend Patti. I heard about your contest and immediately thought of Patti. I met her 8 years ago when I was 8 years old at an assisted living center. Patti is a quadriplegic woman. After meeting her, my mother became one of her personal care attendants and now Patti is like family to us. She can only move her head and a couple of fingers but with the help of her attendants she spent her time as a social worker helping other people. She recently retired but still volunteers at social organizations and churches nearly every day. My family moved away from Columbus to Meadville 4 years ago because of my father's job and since then we have missed Patti very much. I wish that Patti could have some financial help this Christmas. If I could, I would give her a million dollars. She deserves that and more because she has been there for us and her own family and friends

despite all her obstacles. I don't know what the world would be like without Patti, less bright, less fun. She is a talented writer and poet. She is always smiling and always there to help someone else in need. If she had extra money, she could hire more workers. She could travel. She would always have enough food and someone there to prepare it. I just feel that Patti is so deserving of some help this Christmas, as her financial situation has deteriorated since retiring. Money would give her peace of mind, and freedom, and if she were to get the million dollars, I know she would do great things with it, things that would help many people, not just herself. Thank you for this opportunity to write and tell you about Patti. I hope she is picked for a financial gift this year.

Sincerely, Hanna Wortkoetter