Attention Business Contributors!
When you donate $100 to P.I.C, Inc we will publish your name in the Atlantic City Press under the heading “Businesses Who Care For People In Crisis” and we will give you a certificate of appreciation suitable for framing.
Our Origin…Two Huge Acts Of Kindness
Twenty years ago a man saved Lana Samuels’ life. Lana was seriously injured in a work-related accident, suffering a head trauma and neck injury while employed for Keeblers.
The man, a factory worker and bus driver of modest means, became Lana’s advocate. He contacted physicians and agencies on her behalf. He provided money to help pay her medical expenses when she was alone and desperate.
“His resources and financial help saved my life,” says Lana “When I was too weak to help myself.” Her friend’s humanitarian efforts so impressed Lana that she decided to do for others what he did for her. This started her on a grueling grass roots, door- to-door journey that continues today.
In 2003, she founded People In Crisis, an organization whose mission is to provide those in need with financial, medical and survival needs so that they can maintain a sustainable quality of life.
Lana goes door-to-door seeking assistance in all kinds of weather to raise money for the man who saved her life , because he has his own severe medical problems and survival needs. In an effort to help him by going door-to-door, she has met many people who were in crisis and also experiencing great hardship and severe needs whom she has helped. The number of people in crisis continues to grow as a result of our problem economy. She has saved the lives of many and had endured the heartbreak of seeing others die. In her travels she has secured the help of dozens of physicians and others from all walks of life. She has organized a 501-C-3 non-profit that is effectively helping those who cannot help themselves and would like to continue to help all people in crisis who apply for help.
Some Accomplishments: She has helped a woman who has MS to get a wheel chair lift and nursing care. She has helped dozens get free medications from prescriptions plans including Abbot and AstraZenca. She has contacted the Atlantic County Improvement Authority and secured a $20,000 grant to repair a home that was falling apart and endangering the lives of a mother and her children.
Lana came to the rescue of a reclusive woman who was too weak to help herself by securing a wheel chair and the medical assistance that saved the woman’s life. She is assisting a young returning Iraq veteran get medical assistance and directing him to veterans organizations that may be of help. She is caring for a cancer patient who lives alone.
Some of the remarkable people she has met during her door-to-door efforts are Mike Denunzio, a restaurant owner Sea Isle, who provided a fund raiser for People In Crisis. Mike also became a board member.
Joan Maddox, owner of American Diving Supplies in Northfield, who with Police officer Sean Griffith and Ann Marie Hoffman, provide Christmas gifts for children that Lana meets on her door to door crusades. She is also a board member.
She appreciates the many donors including an Atlantic City Police officer and Ben Newton, who used to be homeless. Ed Lawless who stand out in the cold during her door-to-door efforts and provide encouragement and funds.
Lana has scheduled a fund raiser at the Somers Point Fire Department with the help of Dr. Jeane Carlson, a member of the Board of Education in Somers Point to help People In Crisis clients.
Phil Martelli, St. Joseph’s University basketball coach, recently joined the Out Reach Committee. Other recent Out Reach Committee members are the owners of Liberty Lanes, Upper Darby, Pa and James Vander Gracht, owner of Merit Finance, Pa and NJ.
What You Can Do
There are many people in crisis who need your help. American citizens have already proven what we can accomplish when we all work together the way we did after 9/11. Let’s accept the challenge to do all we can for our fellow Americans who have fell on hard times. Your financial contributions as well as your time as a volunteer can help us all to triumph during these tough times.
Let the two huge acts of kindness done by Lana and her friend be the spark that ignites an unquenchable flame that burns brightly and eternally giving witness to the indomitable spirit of the American people!
