An 86-year-old Michigan widow is forced to get up at the crack of dawn every day to work as a cleaner, just so she can put food on the table.
Elaine Dorland has been unable to retire since both her husband and son recently passed away, one after the other.
Her late husband, Roger, was a marine and a plumber who died of kidney failure two years ago. Her son died of a heart attack nine months later.
The widow and bereaved mother told WXYZ that she has been working as a cleaner for more than seven decades, since she was 12 years old, and that she must continue to do so in her old age to survive.
Almost every day of the week, Dorland starts her morning at 4.30am with a cup of coffee before clocking in and cleaning all nine floors of the nursing home where she has lived for the past twenty years in Wyandotte, a suburb of Detroit.
'I’m not much for schooling. I’m not smart. But I sure can clean,' Dorland told WXYZ. 'Cleaning is part of my life here. Plus, I have to.'
The job is physically demanding. The old woman has to vacuum and mop every floor, scrub eight bathrooms and clean windows, which can all be particularly challenging given her small frame and health challenges.
Dorland has rods in her back, a torn rotator cuff and arthritis that is progressively getting worse.
Elaine Dorland, 86, has to get up at 4.30am nearly every day of the week to work as a cleaner to make ends meet
Dorland's husband, Roger, died of kidney failure two years ago, and her son died nine months later. She is forced to keep working now that her family is gone
Dorland cleans all nine floors of this nursing home in Wyandotte, a suburb of Detroit, where she has lived for the past twenty years
Even so, she keeps a strong work ethic and as positive an attitude as she can.
Dorland said that she, her husband and her family never made much money, so she knows what it is like to work hard.
Her late husband's job as a self-employed plumber after his military service has also left meager social security payments that are not enough to live off of on their own.
'We all worked hard in my family,' Dorland told WXYZ. 'So, if I have to keep working, I’ll keep working.'
But the widow admits that working has become harder, and life has become lonelier, since her husband and son died. She said that she thinks about Roger every morning when she has her coffee.
Things have been so challenging that 'There’s times I don’t want to be here,' she told WXYZ through teary eyes. 'We thought of ending it together, seriously.'
But there is now a glimmer of hope for Dorland to retire. Sue Wery, a member of the Wyandotte community, started a GoFundMe last week to give the old woman some financial stability.
On the fundraising page, Wery described Dorland as someone who is 'proud and never asks for help... She is the kind of person who gives everything she has, even when she has very little.'
Dorland's husband was a marine before working as a self-employed plumber. The meager social security checks she collects from his career are not enough to live off of
Dorland maintains a positive attitude and strong work ethic, but she admits that working has become harder and life has become lonelier since her husband and son died. She is pictured getting emotional as she discusses her struggles
Sue Wery has created a GoFundMe with the goal of helping Dorland retire by giving her some financial stability
The purpose of the fundraiser, Wery wrote, is for Dorland to 'finally retire and live the life she has earned as she continues to process the grief of her loving family. A life without daily physical labor, financial stress, or constant worry is the ultimate goal.'
Over the course of just eight days, the GoFundMe has raised more than $50,000 of its $150,000 goal.
Wery told WXYZ that Dorland 'has been a strong woman all her life, and now she's 86 going on 87. It is time for people to take care of her.'
When the outlet asked Dorland about the fundraiser for her, she said: 'I didn't expect this. I don't think I'm worthy of it.'
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