How You Can Help

If you are outraged by Lillie’s story and her eight years of financial elder abuse and her being “taken” and “placed” in an institution for no justifiable reason with no contact with her family, help us #FreeLillie #FreeAuntLillie. For more information, read the Huffington Post article, “Is Elder Guardianship a New Form of Human Trafficking?” See video and spread the word. This is the direct YouTube link to the video: https://youtu.be/-3w3clc9aOU

Below are some of the ways you can help. If you think of others, please let us know at elderdignity@hotmail.com.

  1. Support the GoFundMe Campaign

The people who are keeping Lillie sequestered are using her own money to victimize her, whereas the family is spending out-of-pocket for her defense. Your donations will be used to hire an attorney who can launch a solid defense in a Higher Court. You will help Lillie, and possibly other seniors in the long run. Support the GoFundMe Campaign here.

  1. Sign the Change.org Petition

Sign the Change.org Petition to urge the Guardian to allow Lillie’s core family—her 83-year-old sister, her niece and caregiver for five years, and the rest of her 50+ nieces and nephews—to see her. We also need your help to urge the Guardian to bring Lillie home as soon as possible—since she never should have been taken in the first place.  Find out more and sign the petition here.

  1. Blast Social Media

Help make Lillie’s story go viral by talking about it on social media using #FreeLillie or #FreeAuntLillie. Follow us @elderdignitynow and retweet to your followers. Link back to https://elderdignity.org so others can be as outraged. Our goal is for the mass media to pick up the story and shine light on the systemic abuse.

Here are some sample tweets:

Blk woman, Florida, Guardianship abuse. Taking away right to vote. Vid: https://elderdignity.org #FreeLillie @FLGovScott

Blk woman, Florida. Liquidate/Isolate/Medicate guardianship abuse. Vid: http://www.elderdignityorg. #FreeLillie @FLGovScott

Blk woman robbed/silenced, Florida, guardianship abuse. Vid: https://elderdignity.org. #FreeLillie @FLGovScott @PamBondi

Relevant tags for retweets:

White House – @WhiteHouse
White House Conference on Aging – @WHAging
U.S. Senate Special Committee on Aging – @SenateAging
Senator Susan Collins (R-ME) – @SenatorCollins
Florida Governor Rick Scott – @FLGovScott
Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi – @PamBondi
Florida Senator Bill Nelson – @SenBillNelson
Florida Senator Marco Rubio – @MarcoRubio
Hillary Clinton – @Hillary Clinton
Justice Department – @TheJusticeDept
National Center on Elder Abuse – @NCEAatUSC
Elder Abuse Prevention – @EndElderAbuse
Ageless Alliance – @AgelessAlliance
EJC – @ElderJustice

  1. Contact Mass Media

Please choose your favorite news outlet and share your outrage on Lillie’s story and the systemic abuse in the Florida Elder Guardianship system. If you are with the media, report on it. If you are a blogger, write about it. If you have contacts with specific media outlets, please let us know. We are particularly interested in CNN, ABC, NBC, CBS, USA Today, The New York Times, The Washington Post, Orlando Sentinel and Miami Herald.  We have a list of Florida outlets we will contact. Below is a list of outlets for your convenience. Choose one and share your voice.

MAIN MESSAGE: Robbed & Silenced–90-year-old African-American woman in Palm Coast, Florida stripped of basic rights and trapped for 8 years in the Florida Elder Guardianship system so vicious it’s called “Liquidate, Isolate, Medicate.” Now, she has been “taken” by a court-appointed guardian and “placed” in an undisclosed location with no contact from her core family for almost three years.

National
@CNN, CNNTips@cnn.com, 404-827-1500
@ABC, submit here to Brian Ross Investigative Unit, 212-456-7777
@NBCNews, nightly@nbc.com
@CBSNews, evening@cbsnews.com, 212-975-4321
@FoxNews, comments@foxnews.com
@USAToday, 800-872-0001
@nytimes, The New York Times, letters@nytimes.com
@washingtonpost, The Washington Post, letters@washpost.com

Florida
WFTV-TV: ABC9, Orlando-Daytona Beach, wftvch9@aol.com, 407-822-8380, submit here
News4JAX, iteam@news4jax.com or send a text to 904-479-NEWS, @wjxt4
WKMG News 6, theinvestigators@clickorlando.com, 407-445-1404
WPGS: “The Talk of East Central Florida”, 840AM, wpgs@wpgs.com, 321-383-1000
Orlando Sentinel, insight@orlandosentinel.com, 407-420-5000
Miami Herald, 303-376-3429, Executive Editor, Mindy Marques Gonzalez
The Daytona Beach News-Journal, 386-283-4944, jennifer.edwards-park@news-jrnl.com, matt.bruce@news-jrnl.com, 386-681-2223
Sunshine State News, news@sunshinestatenews.com, 850-297-2810
Daytona Times, news@flcourier.com, 877-352-4455, Senior Editor Jenise Morgan

  1. Share Your Voice

Since the Court is trying to silence us from sharing Lillie’s story, help us by sharing your voice. Send us video on a) your personal outrage about Lillie’s situation, b) your personal story of elder abuse (e.g. with a loved one), and c) how important our elders are and how you have been positively affected by a senior in your life (e.g. grandmother, aunt, teacher). Feel free to use any of these statements at the end: “Let Truth Prevail,” “Free Aunt Lillie,” “Seniors Have The Right To Be Protected & Respected.” It can be a simple cell phone video and doesn’t have to be long–simply share your voice. Email it to elderdignity@hotmail.com.

  1. Call, email, or write Florida Governor Rick Scott

Governor Rick Scott proclaimed June 15, 2016 Elder Abuse Awareness Day in Florida. Yet, this is happening under his watch. He needs to know and intervene. Call, email or write him:

Communications Office – 850-717-9282, media@eog.myflorida.com

Jackie Schultz, Communications Director
Office of the Governor, Room 206
State Capital
Tallahassee, FL 32399-0001
850-488-5394

  1. Call or write Flagler County Clerk of the Circuit Court

The Clerk’s duties have an important impact upon the people’s rights and property in relation to citizen’s protection and access to the court. The current Clerk Gail Wadsworth needs to know what is going on in her County. Call, email or write:

Gail Wadsworth, Clerk of the Circuit Court, 386-313-4400
Tom Bexley, Chief Deputy Clerk of the Circuit Court, 386-313-4400
Wadsworth is retiring in 2016 and Bexley is campaigning to take her place.

Kim C Hammond Justice Center
1769 E Moody Blvd, Bldg 1
Bunnell, FL 32110

#FreeLillie from being legally robbed and silenced.