I was born in Canada on April 16th, 1950 and am a Canadian Citizen. I was adopted at the age of 3. My parents could not look after me and had me institutionalized at the Torrance State Mental Hospital in Pennsylvania when I was 10 There I learned how to look after myself and left at the age of 21 to make my own way in the world.
I married George Harpel a few years after But George died He was a good husband and friend.
George made sure I could manage myself by leaving me money in a bank account. I moved to Peterborough and for 28 years I have managed myself. Now I have run out of money.
In May my bank account was low and I needed help to pay the rent. I asked Peterborough Social Services to help me but they said they could not help me. They said I had too much money in the bank. But I didn't have enough to pay the rent. So I lost my home.
Now I am homeless and live on the streets of Peterborough. Now that I have no home I went back to Social Services to get help to find me a home. My social worker Jan Murray told me I still have too much money in the bank. I only have about $400 left of what my husband left me to manage myself.
Jan Murray told me to spend all my money on a motel or something and then come back for help when I had no more left. I told her that was not right. At the hospital the social workers taught me to save my money and keep it in the bank.
My lawyer at the Peterborough Community Legal Clinic and my doctor are trying to get me an Ontario Disability Pension but that takes time I have no one else to turn to except Peterborough Social Services.
Now Jan Murray wants me to move to Ottawa. She says Social Services in Ottawa can help me better there. I don't want to go to Ottawa. I have lived in Peterborough for 28 years. Moving to Ottawa scares me. My husband George always liked Peterborough and this is where I want to die when the Lord takes me.
I am a good christian woman. I go to church at St. Peters. I used to dress up nice in bright colors. But now my cloths are dirty with mud from living on the streets and i feel shame going this way to church. Its not right. Its not funny. Please help me any way you can.
HOW YOU CAN HELP ANN WARREN
1. You can help by printing out Ann's petition, sign it and get your friends and family to sign and mail it to the address provided or give it to Ann next time you see her. Ann now lives on the street near the Peterborough Social Services Building in the Charlotte mews and she usually occupies the bench across from the Peterborough Bus Station.
2. If you are as outraged as we that social services would leave a mentally ill woman on the streets then call Anns social worker Jan Murray at (705) 748-8830 extension 3854 or Patricia Knapp the Director of Peterborough Social Services at (705) 772-3770.
THANK YOU FOR HELPING ANN
Friends of Ann Warren