Retired Bradenton schoolteacher receives assistance to stay in her house

Brenda Steiner loved her small change purse. It was green with gold beads and had belonged to her grandmother. She called it her little Betty Boop.

But when it went missing in May, it was more than nostalgia that caused Steiner to panic.

The 66-year-old retired schoolteacher from Bradenton had placed all her rent money inside of it after making withdrawals at an ATM, planning to later obtain a money order to send to her landlord

But back at her house, when she looked inside her purse, she couldn’t find her Betty Boop.

“I got home and that little purse was gone,” she said. So was her ATM card, she added, speculating that she probably placed the change purse on a side table near the ATM and amid the hectic distractions around her – plus confusion brought on by new medication – she failed to put it back into the larger purse with other items before she left.

“That was a nightmare.”

For Steiner, there was scant room in the household budget for such a loss.

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