Photo: Madison Rogers/WBZ NewsRadio
HAVERHILL, Mass. (WBZ NewsRadio) — A Haverhill church is offering a lifeline to families struggling with medical bills in the state.
The non-denominational Riverside Church is helping 1500 low-income residents get from under $1.3 million in medical debt.
The church partnered with an organization called Undue Medical Debt for the initiative, hoping to erase debt for families in Massachusetts with a targeted focus on Middlesex and Essex counties.
After a plea to his congregation, Pastor Mark Rivera raised $10,000 to help contribute to the cause.
"We basically expressed the needs that we were hearing of different families and people that have been really overwhelmed by some of the debt they were experiencing," says Pastor Rivera.
Residents whose debt will be forgiven will receive a letter from Undue Medical Debt in three to five weeks. The Boston-based company has helped millions of people relieve their debt by leveraging donations to buy bundled medical debt at steep discounts and then forgiving it.
"And these are really the sort of initiatives that churches, this is my humble opinion, that I think churches should be engaged in."
WBZ's Madison Rogers (@MadisonWBZ) reports.