for Jim Ackerman Poster website

1. Benefit for Jim AckermanJan 15th at 6 PM at Kaminskis 1424 Brace Rd. Cherry Hill NJAt Door $20, donations also accepted, please make checks out to Jim AckermanBuffet - Cash Bar - Raffles Jim (former JDC employee) was living with a woman named Jan for 25 years. They no sooner announced their plans to be married when Jan discovered she had Pancreatic Cancer and died within 60 days. Jim left his job to take care of Jan during the last two months she was alive and was not able to get his job back after her death. He had difficulty finding work mostly due to his state of depression after Jan’s death. Jim went through most of his savings while being unemployed for almost two years. As anyone can imagine Jim continued to suffer from depression after Jan’s death for several years. He began to recover from this tragedy only after he met Judy. He and Judy immediately fell for each other and began living together. I often thought Judy was very much like Jan and Judy was instrumental in helping Jim finally overcome his depression. After around six months with Judy, Jim seemed to be his old self and his sense of humor returned and he was once again happy. This was short lived however as Judy also developed cancer. She died in Jim’s arms over Christmas weekend less than six months later and Jim has not been right since. Who could blame him? As he struggled with his grief he had difficulty finding work and continued to go through any savings he had left. He finally was hired at Comcast, things were looking up but within days after starting his new job he fell ill. He spent time in the hospital on a ventilator for a few weeks. Since his health insurance had not kicked in yet with his new job, he accumulated hospital bills well in excess of $100,000. He soon found his credit was shot and his creditors began proceedings to attach his wages. Jim spent more time in the hospital recently and is now homeless, has difficulty breathing without oxygen, and is wondering what he ever did in life to deserve this. Anyone that knows Jim will tell you there isn’t a nicer guy to be found. Right now the doctors have acknowledged Jim is no longer capable of working so only now can he apply for Disability. Since that takes at least six months to get a hearing, Jim finds himself broke, homeless and without hope. If it were not for some recent donations from friends Jim would have been sleeping in his car in 20 degree weather. The reason for this benefit is to attempt to raise some cash so Jim can find some shelter through the winter months and hopefully any monies will last until he finally gets a favorable decision at his Social Security hearing whenever that time.