SACRAMENTO, Calif. — After a disabled, elderly couple in Sacramento reached out to ABC10 last week, with complaints about the lack of care from Sacramento County's In-Home Supportive Services program, ABC10 viewers reached out wanting to help.
A viewer Nancy and her husband George were so touched by this story, they called the ABC10 newsroom asking if they could spend a few hours volunteering to clean up this home for the two home-bound seniors over the weekend.
"So literally, we've had nobody," Darryl Del Monte, a homebound senior said.
As bags of fermenting garbage piled up inside of Darryl and Carol Del Monte's small Sacramento apartment after they said the help they've relied on for the past eight years from Sacramento County's IHSS program stopped showing up more than six months ago and instead said, it's their responsibility to find, hire and oversee their own caregivers.
"I never dreamed I would end up living like this," Carol said.
ABC10 viewer and Good Samaritan Nancy and her husband George weren't about to let the story end there.
"It's just heartbreaking because when Carol said, 'we don't live like this,' that got me, and I thought, Carol, I'm going to see if I can help you not live like this," Nancy said.
So they packed up their cleaning supplies and extra trash bags and drove down from Antelope.
Nancy said that she didn't want any credit for helping, she didn't even want to be on camera, she said all she wanted was to take out their trash.
"It really hurts to think people are living like this, and nobody pays attention," Nancy said. "It was just a need I wanted to help because we could all be in this position anytime, doesn't matter your age."
And that helping hand was more than this couple even dreamed of.
"I feel a big-time sense of relief, at least we know we've got somebody in the moment who is going to take some of the load off of our back," Darryl said.
But their fight with the county's IHSS program isn't over as they are still looking for a more permanent solution, pushing the county for more help in finding a long-term caregiver.
"We're overwhelmed with gratitude to Channel 10 for airing the story first off and then for these kind people who are volunteering their time and effort to help us," Carol said.
ABC10: Watch, Download, Read
Watch more on ABC10