Re: Who knows Poverty First Hand?
Toyota I appreciate the kind words you have always given me. Believe it or not things like that make life much easier.<br />Things are really looking up for me and mine the next 2 years. My wife is now working full time, and we have new board members. Last week they set wages for 2007 and the 4 year term folowing. They lifted the freeze and gave us the biggest raise in this counties history. We are still the lowest paid county in the state, but with the cost of living here we will be in great shape.<br /><br />If there is no such thing as being destitute, I have a story to share. One night I found a family digging in a dumpster for food. Mother, Father, 2 children ages 5 or so. First thought was the same old one most people have that they were lazy bums. I was concerned for the kids so I made contact. We had a large homeless population so seeing them was of no concern, but these people were different.<br />The man was very very educated. Had a professional career in his field and was paid very well. They never spent more than they needed preferring to put away what they could in savings. Well one day his company shut down and he was out of work. He tried for a few weeks to find a job in his field but none open. He then tried related fields with no luck. After a few months his insurance from his company ran out. Within a week his wife got sick. Found out she had cancer. Treatable, but no insurance. They ran through their savings while he still looked for work. I thought the usual, he won't settle for less than the highest position, but was wrong. He said he even tried McDonalds. They wouldn't hire him because he was too qualified, too educated and they were afraid he would quit right away when a good jhob came up or afraid he would be hard to deal with lowering himself to minumum wage. He did get 1 job offer but was out of town with his wife for medical treatment at the time. After her recovery they found themselves out of money, they had lost their home, and were deep in debt. They had their car since they never spent money on a new car.<br />They decided after his wife was on her way to recovery to move "back home" to find a job in their home town across country. He mowed lawns for a summer to make enough money for the trip. They of course tried for government help but since he had been working for years they didn't qualify. Then the waiting period was too long. On the way back home their car broke down. They had been living in it for a few months by then. Every town they stopped in he looked for work but heard the same. Too educated, too qualified, no permanant address, by then he looked so nasty from living in the car showering at campgrounds and truck stops that nobody would hire him. He was not qualified for any manual labor jobs because of his past 10 years.<br />There I found them, their car broken down and no money to fix it, no money for housing, no money for food. He had applied for jobs in town that day, but his home address being the park just didn't work for him.<br />Now if there is no real poverty or destitution in this country then what was that? I have seen many many cases since then exactly like that one. It doesn't compare to the situation in third world countries, but that is not a fair comparison.
