I decided to do this posting because of some comments in the post about Pensions. In the mid to Late 1980's there was a flood and the local Kingom Hall was damaged and many of the friends homes were damaged...groups came in to help repair. My then mother-in-law literally lost everything-she had no home to repair...she had been renting a small trailer and it washed away. She also spent the night in the rafters of a business to keep alive. A well to do brother from another congregation gave the then presiding overseer $30,000 to be distributed to the friends in need. My mother in law had gone to a fema trailer in a town over an hour away....out of sight, out of mind. She lost more than anyone in that congregation, but the elder in charge clearly forgot about her or just didn't care. I don't know who got how much money, but he had money left over and sent it to the WTBTS. In another instance, a sister sold a car to an elder...instead of payment to her she told him to make a donation in the amount...we doubted that happened as it was never shown to happen-or maybe he is still doing it in the process. This same sister also gave money to the elders to distribute to others as needed. I suppose they did.
A sister's husband left her and she had 2 girls...she was working at whatever she could find...her clothes were hanging off her. I slipped a card with money I could ill afford to part with into her bag. She never thanked me. all she said later was her daughters were to give me a card which I never got. (I thought that strange)