Irma Marie Harvey remembers the instant everything changed. She was running, then she was airborne, then her body came crashing down — and with it, her life.
A preschool teacher of three decades, Harvey was chasing after a boy in her care in November 2023 when she tumbled, dislodging several disks in her neck and spine. Three months later, her car was struck by a bus while idling at a red light in Pacifica, compounding the injuries she sustained in the fall.
Chronic pain forced her to give up teaching, a job she loved.
Harvey’s days were once spent greeting parents, handing out snacks and tending to the whims of her pint-sized students, some of whom affectionately called her “Mama Marie.” She misses being surrounded by kids.
But now, the 61-year-old said, “if I walk a block, it hurts.
“If I walk a block, it hurts.”
Her days are filled with medical appointments and often debilitating pain. Household chores have become difficult. She cannot stand for long stretches to cook or lift loads of laundry. Her doctors told her to avoid carrying anything heavier than 5 pounds, a rule she said she follows except when it comes to her “spoiled, overweight” cat Mel, whose companionship has helped buoy her during her most difficult moments.
Shortly after her fall, Harvey filed a workers’ compensation claim for lost wages and began receiving permanent disability benefits. With the help of government assistance, she was able to keep paying rent on the Daly City apartment where she had lived for 13 years.
In the midst of her recovery, however, she noticed something odd. Her neighbors were moving out in droves. Soon she understood why. Cooking dinner one evening in March, she found a cockroach in her refrigerator. Then she spotted one crawling out of her kitchen cabinet. Neighbors warned her that they’d begun seeing rats.
Days later, when Harvey saw her cat chasing yet another cockroach, she knew it was time to find a new place to live.
Out of work and living on a limited budget with no savings, Harvey was unsure how she would afford a rental deposit on a new apartment.
James Bohm from services agency Daly City Partnership pointed her to the Chronicle Season of Sharing Fund, hoping the organization might be able to help. Season of Sharing works year-round to prevent homelessness and hunger in the Bay Area’s nine counties. All donations are spent helping people in need.
Harvey had never heard of the fund and didn’t expect to receive financial assistance. When she was granted enough to cover the deposit, she was shocked.
“I was thanking God for the blessing,” Harvey said. “I did not have the money for it. I thank them for helping me.”
But soon her attention turned to another concern: Mel. While Harvey had secured a new one-bedroom apartment in South San Francisco, she worried that her new landlords wouldn’t accept her 25-pound indoor cat, the whiskered “best friend” she sometimes suspects of being the feline incarnation of her late father.
To her surprise, they did.
With the help of her daughter Lamika, Harvey moved into the new apartment in May. Mel came with her.
The new apartment is cleaner and free of pests. And whenever Harvey feels overwhelmed by chronic pain, Mel is there to comfort her.
“He lays on me and puts his paws on my chest,” she said.
Reach Nora Mishanec: nora.mishanec@sfchronicle.com
At Season of Sharing Fund, we believe that an unexpected financial crisis should never mean losing your home. Preventing homelessness isn’t just kind—it’s also the most effective way to keep our communities thriving. 100% of your donation keeps Bay Area residents housed, cared for and nourished.
