KXLY
January 23, 2021 11:02 AM Emily Oliver
SPOKANE VALLEY, Wash. A Spokane Valley church is making sure medical debt is one less thing families have to worry about during this pandemic.
Valley Real Life Church set out with the goal to raise $200,000 back in December. The fundraiser wrapped up with the church exceeding that goal with a total of $300,000 raised.
That’s enough money to pay off $30 million of medical debt for people in the Inland Northwest, thanks to a partnership with RIP Medical Debt, which vowed to match each dollar raised with $100.
“In the middle of COVID, we realized medical issues are the big thing, and people are just wrestling with that,” said Steve Allen, with the church.
KXLY
December 30, 2020 5:53 PM Connor Sarles
Copyright 4 News Now
SPOKANE, Wash. It’s been a challenging year for everyone, but if we know one thing about people, it’s that no matter how bad things get you will always find others lending a helping hand. 4 News Now is committed to ‘Finding the Helpers‘ and sharing their stories.
As 2020 winds to a close, we wanted to take a look back at some of the most touching stories of our community friends, family, volunteers, students, business owners and everyone in between as they worked to help others during this unprecedented time.
Spokane Food Fighters takes on food insecurity
‘Blown away’: Spokane Valley church raising money to help pay off millions in medical debt By Greg Mason, The Spokesman-Review
Published: December 30, 2020, 8:52am
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SPOKANE Fifteen-year-old Kristal Nieland was going into her sophomore year of high school when she was diagnosed with leukemia.
Nieland spent nearly two years in and out of hospitals for treatments still somehow finding the strength to attend her senior prom along the way, said her mother, Shirley Carroll. She was 16 when she died in June 1987.
Carroll, a single mother trying to run her own business, not only had to contend with her daughter’s death, but roughly $80,000 in medical bills after insurance. She said she made payments during and after Kristal’s treatments.