Virgie’s Story

With rising rent, increased cost of living, limited income, and a shortage of affordable housing or care-assistance housing, seniors in Pierce County face many challenges. Earlier this year, Virgie, a senior living in Pierce County reached out to Sound Outreach with a request for financial counseling. Virgie’s roommate passed away and she found herself no longer able to pay her rent. Then, her landlord presented her with a move out notice for the end of the following month. Struggling to manage her housing costs and worried that she urgently needed to find a new place to live, she started working with Sound Outreach.

With the assistance of Martin Pirgiotis, the Sound Outreach Silver Program financial counselor, Virgie created an action plan, budget, and a strategy for negotiating with her creditors. Martin also connected Virgie with a pro bono legal organization to help her understand her legal rights and negotiate with her landlord. Through Zoom meetings and phone calls, Martin worked with Virgie over several months as she worked through the action plan.

Martin said, “I was delighted when Virgie told me that the legal assistance organization that I referred her to had been able to help her extend her move out date. Even better, Virgie told me that she had used the strategies that I shared with her to negotiate with her creditors successfully. Virgie had the confidence to call her creditors, negotiate terms and amounts, and reduce her overall debt by over 2000 dollars. I am very excited to see the progress that Virgie has been able to make in such a short time. Helping seniors like Virgie attain financial stability using my training and resources at Sound Outreach is the most fulfilling part of my job.”