Mom grateful for a home

It was late summer when Patti Luttig received a utility shut-off notice from OPPD and fell two months behind on her house payments.

Luttig, a 44-year-old single mother of two with a full-time job, needed to choose: Keep the power on, or pay the mortgage.

She chose the power, then looked elsewhere for help with the mortgage for her three-bedroom northwest Omaha mobile home.

At first, help wasn't easy to find. As a full-time machine operator for First Data Corp., Luttig earns too much to qualify for most kinds of help but not enough to pay the bills, especially when her overtime hours slow down.

A hard worker who's trying to raise son Paton, 12, and daughter Haleigh, 8, Luttig was frustrated at hitting dead ends.

But she found assistance from The World-Herald Goodfellows, which can provide one-time emergency payments when there are usually no other options.

Luttig received $401.22 to help pay her mortgage.

“I was real thankful Goodfellows was able to help me out,” she said. “We are still in our home and still have a roof over our heads.”

Goodfellows is helping this family and thousands of others with emergency aid or a holiday meal. Currently, a fundraising drive is under way. All dollars raised go to needy families. The World-Herald pays all administrative costs.

Luttig remains behind on her finances. After-school day care costs, monthly bills and medical expenses for her children, both of whom require medication for attention-deficit disorder, pile up month after month. She's had to go to Omaha food pantries.

But Luttig tries to stay positive, telling her children, “We still have a roof over our heads, and we still have food in our tummies. So we just have to be thankful for what we do have because there are other people out there worse off than we are.”

Contact the writer:

444-3198, chip.olsen@owh.com

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