Mattresses from Gospel Mission unacceptable, couple claims
By John Quinlan, Journal staff writer | Posted: Saturday, November 10, 2007
A down-on-their-luck Sioux City couple in need of a bed claim they got short-sheeted by the Sioux City Gospel Mission.
Not so, says Gospel Mission executive director Harold Youtzy Jr. After all, beggars can't be choosers.
Such, in a nutshell, is the situation pitting Daniel and Shaun Cotto against one of Sioux City's respected charitable organizations.
The Cottos moved to Sioux City early last summer, returning to Shaun's hometown from Florida after her health problems and the resulting debt forced them to seek help from her family.
Shaun Cotto has mycosis fungoidese, a rare form of T-cell non-Hodgkins lymphoma. She is also getting over a bout of methicillin-resistant staphylococcus aureus, the infamous superbug. Radiation treatment for the cancer has left a bunch of open wounds, skin ulcers, on her back.
Last week, they went to the Gospel Mission, where they had been referred, to get a bed and some other furniture.
"And then they finally brought this mattress out," Shaun Cotto said. "And it was full of pee stains. I said, 'I can't sleep on that. I have this big hole in my back.' And they kind of got mad about it. But right then and there, they were disposing of it -- of a mattress that they were going to give to me. So what they were giving me was garbage."
The Cottos and their landlord, who'd given them a ride, watched as the pee-stained mattress was picked up by a forklift and deposited in a nearby trash bin.
"I mean, it was so disgusting that I wouldn't even let the nastiest dog sleep on it," Dannny Cotto said. "My wife started crying ... because we need a bed. They had other beds. They could have given us a king-sized bed."
Youtzy was summoned. He talked to the store manager, then told the Cottos they could have a different bed.
"Yeah, they did, and we took that one back," Shaun Cotto said. "We borrowed our neighbor's truck and took that one back because it had a really bad smell on it. I tried to get the smell out and I couldn't. It was like, I don't know, between a dog smell and a foot smell and a bad smell, and there were some bugs on it.
"It's a humbling experience to have to ask, but then to get the lowest, bottom-of-the-barrel stuff. And they threw it away!"
Youtzy said the first bed, the one with the apparent urine stains, had been delivered to the mission that day and probably should not have been offered to the couple. The second bed, which the Cottos initially took, was typical of the beds that are donated to the mission, he said.
"So what they had was a bed that we had for sale," he said. "And if it's not to the measure that they like, I can't help it."
He noted that this was the first couple ever to express dissatisfaction with a free bed.
"I recognized this situation is not a good one," he said. "The thing, I guess, that's surprising to me is that even the one that they took turned out not to be good enough. We may have been able to give her a better bed, but even the better bed might not have been sufficient for her."
In the meantime, the Cottos are sleeping on an air mattress and working with various Siouxland social agencies to find a clean bed.
John Quinlan can be reached at (712) 293-4225 or johnquinlan@siouxcityjournal.com
Not so, says Gospel Mission executive director Harold Youtzy Jr. After all, beggars can't be choosers.
Such, in a nutshell, is the situation pitting Daniel and Shaun Cotto against one of Sioux City's respected charitable organizations.
The Cottos moved to Sioux City early last summer, returning to Shaun's hometown from Florida after her health problems and the resulting debt forced them to seek help from her family.
Shaun Cotto has mycosis fungoidese, a rare form of T-cell non-Hodgkins lymphoma. She is also getting over a bout of methicillin-resistant staphylococcus aureus, the infamous superbug. Radiation treatment for the cancer has left a bunch of open wounds, skin ulcers, on her back.
Last week, they went to the Gospel Mission, where they had been referred, to get a bed and some other furniture.
"And then they finally brought this mattress out," Shaun Cotto said. "And it was full of pee stains. I said, 'I can't sleep on that. I have this big hole in my back.' And they kind of got mad about it. But right then and there, they were disposing of it -- of a mattress that they were going to give to me. So what they were giving me was garbage."
The Cottos and their landlord, who'd given them a ride, watched as the pee-stained mattress was picked up by a forklift and deposited in a nearby trash bin.
"I mean, it was so disgusting that I wouldn't even let the nastiest dog sleep on it," Dannny Cotto said. "My wife started crying ... because we need a bed. They had other beds. They could have given us a king-sized bed."
Youtzy was summoned. He talked to the store manager, then told the Cottos they could have a different bed.
"Yeah, they did, and we took that one back," Shaun Cotto said. "We borrowed our neighbor's truck and took that one back because it had a really bad smell on it. I tried to get the smell out and I couldn't. It was like, I don't know, between a dog smell and a foot smell and a bad smell, and there were some bugs on it.
"It's a humbling experience to have to ask, but then to get the lowest, bottom-of-the-barrel stuff. And they threw it away!"
Youtzy said the first bed, the one with the apparent urine stains, had been delivered to the mission that day and probably should not have been offered to the couple. The second bed, which the Cottos initially took, was typical of the beds that are donated to the mission, he said.
"So what they had was a bed that we had for sale," he said. "And if it's not to the measure that they like, I can't help it."
He noted that this was the first couple ever to express dissatisfaction with a free bed.
"I recognized this situation is not a good one," he said. "The thing, I guess, that's surprising to me is that even the one that they took turned out not to be good enough. We may have been able to give her a better bed, but even the better bed might not have been sufficient for her."
In the meantime, the Cottos are sleeping on an air mattress and working with various Siouxland social agencies to find a clean bed.
John Quinlan can be reached at (712) 293-4225 or johnquinlan@siouxcityjournal.com
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