Uber driver rallies group to help 89-year-old Georgia veteran living in filth
When Uber driver Lauren Mulvihill went to pick up a man from the hospital to drive him home, she had no idea what she would end up seeing.
She picked up an 89-year-old veteran, Ronald Dembner, and when she got out of her car to help the man into his Stockbridge home, she immediately smelled a problem.
“Just strong, strong, strong odor of urine,” Mulvihill told Channel 2 Action News. “His bed was wet ... there was dog poop everywhere, pee, mail from 2009 and up. It just looked like he can’t physically do it anymore.”
The filthy conditions were too much for her to clean up by herself, so she resorted to Facebook, creating the page “Helping Mr. Ronald” to request others to help out.
“About 10 random people from Facebook showed up, and when I say they worked — we got like half the house done,” she told Channel 2.
The group filled up a dumpster and a second one is on its way, the news station reported. The volunteers wore masks because of the unsanitary conditions.
The Henry County home still has a long way to go after years of neglect, according to Channel 2. Dembner lives alone with his dog.
The Facebook group, which has grown to more than 700 members, created a fundraising page to help Dembner with repairs. As of Wednesday afternoon, it had raised nearly $2,000 of its $7,000 goal. The group also created a Google Doc that has an Amazon wish list that organizes items he still needs and tasks at the house that still need to be completed.
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About the Author
Zachary Hansen, a Georgia native, covers economic development and commercial real estate for the AJC. He's been with the newspaper since 2018 and enjoys diving into complex stories that affect people's lives.
