Happy Articles

The welfare millionaire

By Brooke Kelley , HappyNews Citizen Journalist

After barely treading life's waters and waiting around for a miracle, one woman decides to create her own life-saver.

A beat down Dr. Joan Hangarter stood in the welfare line chatting with her daughter, Elana, about their trips to Tahiti once upon a time during the carefree summers. When she saw one of her former patients, her first reaction was to duck and hide rather than greet with a smile. Faced with the desire to flee and the need to stay and get food stamps, she hung her head in shame.

This once successful chiropractic doctor suddenly found herself identifying with beggars and bag ladies when her insurance company wrongfully terminated her rights. In the midst of her tragedy, Hangarter knew she would need a miracle to pull her out of the mess, but when her miracle didn't come, she had to resort to drastic measures to turn it all around herself.

It all started with a random car accident which left her with severe pain in her shoulders, neck and arms. The permanent debilitating injury prevented her from treating her patients. On a moment's notice, she no longer had a job. Rather than worry, Hangarter felt secure since she had been paying into her insurance for eight years. But after getting benefits for only 17 months, she heard a knock at her front door.

The insurance company representative informed her that they would no longer pay the money that they had promised, despite the fact that she was due to get checks in the mail for the rest of her life. In just three seconds, her entire life transformed, and she found herself barely treading water.

This single mother of two got evicted later that month, and the family was forced to leave behind the life of luxury. At times, they were able to stay with friends and family, but on one occasion, they were forced to sleep in their Land Rover, which had not yet been repossessed.

It took her three years to recover from this nightmare that had become her life. At first, she had her Shell gas card to fall back on for junk food. But when the card was canceled, she would have to ask friends to raid their pantries for the extra food that they didn't plan to eat. Hangarter and her children were living on Ramen noodles and bologna—a food she absolutely abhors.

Each night, their family of three would unite. They would hold hands and chant. They talked about the problem and tried to come up with logical solutions. Hangarter warned her kids that they would need a miracle to pull them out of the mess. So they asked for a miracle.

After many moons, Hangarter came to the realization that no one was waving a magic wand to create miracles for her. She wondered if miracles even existed. At first she felt upset and worried that they might never see a bright day again. But one fateful day, she had the cognition that she had the ability to create her own miracles, and when this happened, she was able to turn her whole life around. That was the day the Miracle Makers Club was born.

During the first official meeting of the Miracle Makers Club, Elana made her promise that after they created their own miracles, they would show others how to do it and spread the good news.

It wasn't long before they started to exactly what they'd set out to do. Hangarter stumbled upon an article in the newspaper about someone else who had gone through the same problem with the same insurance company. She quickly called the attorneys who handled the pending case.

It wasn't long before she found herself in court sitting across from the very company that had tripped her family. In an interesting turn of events, the courts ruled against the insurance bad guys, and a unanimous jury awarded her $7.7 million for fraudulently denying her rights. The company appealed, and the Miracle Makers Club wouldn't see any of that money any time soon.

She left the courthouse to go shop for groceries with her government money. Hangarter had become the welfare millionaire even though it would be another year or so before the check would ever arrive in the mail.

But the money did finally come, and her life was again drastically different. True to her promise, she keeps the Miracle Makers Club alive. Her weekly radio show, "Make Your Miracle Today," is broadcast live each week online.

"By experiencing and enabling miracles as my life's work, I have come to believe that miracles do, in fact, exist." said Hangarter. "We each have the potential to live full, prosperous, generous lives with meaning. If we become miracle makers, we can change, not only ourselves but—the entire planet."

Hangarter is a modern day super hero. She not only saved herself and her children from poverty, she has now set out on a mission to heal and inspire millions

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