By Jessica Hopper, Tim Sandler and Cristina Boado
Rock Center
Before the sun rises, Cindy and Patrick Kennard wake their three daughters, fold their cots in a Sunday school classroom and pack their lives into suitcases.
“This is an every Sunday ritual,” said Cindy Kennard. “It’s something that we do every week and so it just becomes natural. We know the best thing is to get up and keep moving.”
The Kennard family of five from Johnson City, Tenn., is homeless. Perhaps the most surprising thing about the Kennards is that despite their homelessness, they are still a working family. For the last seven years, Patrick Kennard has worked a full-time job with benefits at a bank call center and until recently, Cindy Kennard worked as a director of a daycare facility.
Photo credit: Ann Curry
Cindy and Patrick Kennard
“When we fell, we fell hard and we fell fast,” Cindy Kennard told NBC News’ Ann Curry in an interview airing Thursday, Nov. 29 on NBC’s Rock Center with Brian Williams.
The Kennards are one of a growing number of working families who have become homeless. In the wake of the recession, experts say that families like the Kennards represent a historic juncture when it comes to homelessness in America.
“It’s hard sometimes for people to appreciate. They’re so used to the stereotyped homeless populations, the visible homeless, if you will, who live outdoors in public locations and they’re not aware that there are literally hundreds of thousands of people, many of them working, who are homeless as well,” said Dennis Culhane, a University of Pennsylvania social policy professor whose research focuses on homelessness.
Photo credit: Ann Curry
The Kennard family settling in at another church shelter. Each week, the family stays in a different Sunday school classroom.
The number of people in homeless families living in suburban and rural areas rose nearly 60 percent during the depths of the Great Recession, according to figures from the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). More than one million school-aged children are now homeless, according to the Department of Education.
“There are more children homeless now than have ever been before,” Culhane said.
WATCH VIDEO: No Place Like Home: Working families increasingly homeless
For Patrick Kennard, the feeling that he’s failed his three daughters, 9-year-old Jillian, 14-year-old Melodie and 16-year-old Brianne, sends him into despair.
“I think I could have handled this whole situation better had it not been for the fact that I was taking my three children into it with me,” said Kennard. “They didn’t do anything to deserve this. They didn’t do anything. They’re totally innocent.”
How to help the families featured on our show
Photo credit: Ann Curry
The Kennard family (clockwise starting on far left): 16-year-old Brianne Kennard, Cindy Kennard, 14-year-old Melodie Kennard, 9-year-old Jillian Kennard and Patrick Kennard
Cindy and Patrick Kennard, married 19 years, worked hard to pursue the American dream. They have college degrees. Both tried to build their savings as they worked. Their dream began to crumble when Patrick Kennard suffered kidney problems that led to expensive hospital stays and mounting medical bills. Even with the health insurance he had from work, the family still owed around $5,000. Their car broke down repeatedly, costing them more than $3,000. The couple's debt began to mount. Combining their student loan debt and medical bills, they found themselves more than $35,000 in debt.
Unable to afford child care, Cindy Kennard was forced to quit her job leaving them with only her husband's income, around $35,000 a year. The family was living paycheck to paycheck and still did not have enough to cover their monthly expenses. They became behind on their rent. They downsized to a cramped two-bedroom apartment from their more spacious four-bedroom apartment. Again, they were unable to afford rent and were evicted.
“I wanted to dig a hole and let somebody cover me up,” said Cindy Kennard.
The youngest Kennard, 9-year-old Jillian, took the eviction news especially hard. “I was scared because I loved the house and I didn’t want to leave it,” she said.
The Kennards pondered living in their van or at a campground. They made heart-breaking decisions, including pawning their wedding rings for $100.
Photo credit: Ann Curry
Cindy and Patrick Kennard holding hands.
“One of the hardest things that I’ve ever had to do was to sell my wedding band,” Patrick Kennard said. “That ring on my finger meant the world to me.”
For Cindy and Patrick Kennard’s daughters, being homeless means living a life of uncertainty and sometimes shame.
Through tears, 16-year-old Brianne described the hardest part about being a homeless kid: hoping no one finds out.
“Sometimes when we’re on our way to school, we have to ride up here in, like, a church van and people can probably see that and then they probably wonder why,” Brianne said. “But people finding out is probably one of the scariest things.”
Brianne has told a few of her close friends who have kept her secret. She was willing to speak publicly about it for the first time because she wants to help other kids like her.
“When we became homeless, we lost everything but our faith and that’s what I would say is don’t lose your faith,” said Brianne of her advice to other homeless families.
Nine-year-old Jillian also feared telling classmates about her family’s struggle.
Photo credit: Ann Curry
Jillian Kennard built the bird house pictured and carries it with her from shelter to shelter because it reminds her of her old house.
“I didn’t want everybody to laugh at me,” she said.
When her friends left school and returned to their homes, she went to a shelter. Jillian said, “I felt happy for them because they had a house and I didn’t.”
The red-headed little girl clings to a pink bird house she built out of popsicle sticks, glitter and glue because it reminds her of the family’s old home.
She sometimes has nightmares and dreams of one day having a slumber party in her own room with a bed covered in Tinkerbell sheets.
The family has moved 15 times in the last four months. Through a church and community program sheltering homeless families called the Interfaith Hospitality Network, the family rotates to a different Sunday school classroom each week.
“I had the stereotypical man holding up the sign, ‘Will work for food, have family, need help’ and I never realized how close I was to being that person,” Patrick Kennard said. “Homelessness can happen to anybody. We’re proof of that.”
Brian Rosecrance runs the Interfaith Hospitality Network’s chapter in Johnson City, Tenn., that’s been helping the Kennards as they find their financial footing. He said he has seen a distinct change in the families seeking help.
Photo credit: Ann Curry
“In the past three, four years, we’ve seen higher-educated people. We’ve seen people who are currently employed coming to us. We’ve seen a lot of families with job layoff situations where they were laid off a month or two ago and now they’re homeless,” Rosecrance said.
Rosecrance said his waiting list of families needing help continues to grow. Part of what makes the Interfaith Hospitality Network unique is that it allows families to stay together.
“One thing that I've seen for as many years as I've been doing this is a real resilience with these families,” Rosecrance said. “And I think that's the whole secret. That, you know, mom and dad don't have to go one place while the kids stay with other relatives or they don't have to be separated in a shelter between men and women.”
Advocates say there are not enough shelters for the nation’s new wave of homeless families and many shelters separate men and women because of security reasons.
Shaun Donovan, the secretary of HUD, said that shelters must begin to use their funding differently to accommodate the rise in homeless families. He acknowledged that family-friendly shelters are under-funded.
“I’m not satisfied that we have the full amount of resources that we need and we will continue to fight for more,” Donovan said.
Donovan said he is working on an ambitious plan to reach families before they become homeless.
“I absolutely believe and the president [President Barack Obama] has fought for greater investment in homelessness in making sure we have adequate shelter, but also in making sure we have new, innovative directions that we can go to prevent it,” Donovan said.
Photo credit: Ann Curry
The Kennard couple outside what will be their new apartment.
Back in Tennessee, the Kennard sisters say that they are learning unexpected lessons from homelessness.
“I’ve learned to love more, to love more people, to love the family more and love the outside world,” said Brianne.
The family recently received some good news. The church shelter they’ve been staying in offered them a grant to help them pay rent for up to five years. The family is expecting to move into a four-bedroom apartment next week.
Perhaps Jillian will now be able to put down her bird house and decorate her own room with Tinkerbell décor.
Photo credit: Ann Curry
Jillian looking at her birdhouse.
To help the Kennard Family: Email kennardfamily5@gmail.com
To help Darlene Gaines and her sons: Email Darlenegaines2012@gmail.com
Editor's Note: Ann Curry's full report airs Thursday, Nov. 29, at 10pm/9CDT on NBC's Rock Center with Brian Williams.
Additional Resources:
Organizations Featured in Our Report
Interfaith Hospitality Network
Government Organizations
U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development's Homeless Resource Exchange
United States Interagency Council on Homelessness
Homeless Advocacy Groups
National Coalition for the Homeless
National Alliance to End Homelessness
Leave a Comment:
Too true Merry Bear. I had a decent job making $56,000 a year when back in 09 was laid off after 33 years of my hard work. Thanks guys! At 53 very hard to get a decent job, 20 interviews and several jobs before I landed something half decent paying $33,000 but no health care, so if I or my husband get sick I'm screwed. My hubby, out of work carpenter, gets a job once in a while but has 3 contractors that screw him over and owe him money. Just got laid off again after a 2 week job. Have exhausted my 401K and my severance pay which I had to fight for since they wanted to give me a standard severance after all those years - hanging on to my house by a thread but really don't see me being able to keep it - this is not how I thought I would be spending my later years worrying about money constantly.
Lots of very human caring folks here today.
Lets address what we can do about the problem: There are lots of schools around that have closed due to the changing demographics in America. Those schools have empty rooms, they have a cafeteria, most have a gym with mens and womens seperate shower facilities and toilets in addition to the ones in the various hallways. I am real sure that the US can find a bunch of cots and blankets sitting around in old Civil Defense storage areas. Let US put this to use and House and Feed the Homeless and marginally employed. We here in the US have the money to take care of our own. I can make a huge pot of very fine Navy Bean soup for very little money it not only tastes great but will keep body and soul together. My Beef stew is dang tasty and cheap. I am sure You have a skill to share. I was a Paramedic at one time as well as a cook, I will volunteer my now unlicensed medical skills. Let US in our communities take these now closed schools open them, heat them, set them up, stock them with food and take care of our fellow countrymen, women and kids. Let US get over the "not in my community" attitude...those who are homeless are for the vast majority not all drug users, they do not all abuse alchol, (Don't you sit around and have a beer or six while watching the game?) Most all are clean (one can bath in a sink)...there is a guy here at the Job Search Center who is camped out behind the old church he swims in the lake...bit cold now though). The folks here are down on their luck, there are over 12 million folks unemployed, 5.3 million longterm unemployed...they would much rather be employed in jobs that allows them a decent standard of living. That does not deny that there are homeless folks that are victims of their human failings...but there is no reason that WE cannot help them. I am sitting here in the unemployment center, there are 3 out of 10 who are homeless and 2 others at immediate risk and the other 5 if they can find no jobs. AND Jobs are indeed hard to come by. Let US stop the anti socialism rhetoric and all be on the same side here and that side is AMERICA. We can take care of our own.
Now, now, you know that the government bureaucrats would never allow such a thing as turning vacant schools (and other vacant government buildings) into temporary housing. There are all those "liability issues" that governments would have to deal with.
Better that workers get paid a living wage that gives them pride in their jobs that will support them into old age and the wealthy and corps stop being so greedy and trying to dump all the workers' costs of retirement and healthcare onto the government.
Why are all these "homeless people" spending all this time "blogging"???
Katherine124,
It is tiresome fruitlessly seeking work day in and day out. We can hang in the libraries, church halls, warming centers and placement centers and between looking for work... we can voice our political thoughts and solutions. It is warmer than on the street. Beats the heck out of panhandling on the street for our booze and drug money, I am sure you 'get' sarcasm. In a little while I will track down that soup kitchen then off to my $9 a night room and hope that I don't get shot or stabbed or robbed or evicted for no real reason. A brisk game of "swat the bugs with a shoe" then bed on an leaky air mattress. And all over again tomorrow. Have a Great Day!
people are homeless due to the great recession, so the recession hit in 2008 Unemployment rose continually and is still at 7 to 12% depending where you live. do you think if we had a better economy the past 4 years this would not of happen to these people ? it may not of happened to so many people is probably the answer so homelessness rose because of Bush from ? 4-6 years ago and Clinton started the affordable home act That actually started to create what was one of the causes of the 2008 crash. So I'm confused what has the current president in the past 4 years to solve homelessness and the economy ??
I really expect more progress in 4 years and you can't continue to blame it on Bush or clinton.
so when people complain about the 1%ers your complaining about not being rich why is it the 1%ers fault because they make too much money ? they don;t give enough ? I do not get it 1% ers are job Creator's so why are they soo evil if they are just trying to make more money and grow their business and support their family. people hate 1% ers because we are all jealous that we are not 1%ers I'm jealous over a NFL quarterback I hate my life I want to be a NFL quarterback. comes down to people hate rich people now . I'm far from being Rich but why do i need to hate rich people the people we should have a issue with is people who are doing nothing but charging the government millions that raises are taxes so people that are homeless do not have enough funding to help them out. homelessness up 60% is that success for a 4 year run as a president and blame on bush I do not get it why their are such poor results over a 4 year period
They are at fault for offshoring jobs and trying to pay third world wages so they can get even bigger paychecks. When is greed too much? How much does one need when they have more money than they can spend reasonably in their lifetimes?
My mother-in-law is on the path to homelessness. She is currently staying with friends because she couldn't afford an apartment. Here's the problem...IT IS ALL HER FAULT. She receives $2400 per month in alimony and from the government. We told her we would help her with a budget. We put together a budget and she went over in every category. We would tell her she could spend $60 on vitamins, and she would spend $107. We told her that since she went over her budget in other categories, she shouldn't get her hair done...What did she do? She went and paid a stylist $70 to do her hair. She blows money on stuff she doesn't need and she really thinks she has no choice but to spend the money. Some people are hopeless and no one can change them.
I hope these people are different, but for all the people that I know who don't have money, it is because they make poor decisions on a daily basis.
I see this type of behavior all too often. It is actually better to let them fail than continually help them out. The same can be said for welfare. It should be temporary, and very short term at that. Its amazing to see someone who says they can never get a job find one when all else is lost.
We need to learn to take care of ourselves again. Small farms, carpentry skills, provide our own heat, etc. Bring back bartering, as opposed to always relying on corps and the govt. to take care of us. When corps don't pay liveable wages the govt must subsidze them by providing food stamps, etc. It's a viscious cycle.
Easier said than done, but my family of 6 is making good strides. I have a bachelor's and all but thesis on a master's and make min wage, as does the wife.
@impatientgirl --- " why would you pay the medical bills and not the rent ??? " I thought the same thing. I understand the importance of paying one's bills but I would have made the tough decision to take care of my kids first and pay rent first -- then pay whatever little I could towards my doctor bill. It is sad that our medical industry is breaking America, and as I am being told from those in the know, so to speak, one in three bankruptcies is due to medical related health issues. I myself recently had a hernia operation and the bill for this ( operation took all of two hours ) a little over 14 grand ----- JUST for the two hour operation --- not including all the preliminary doctor office visits or the anesthesiologist bills which, of course, are separate of the surgery billing. SOOOO to have one's good health is, without a doubt, the best blessing one can have . Doctors are highly educated individuals BUT why is it that one has to go bankrupt to get well ??? I'm sure to pay all the medical malpractice insurance because we live in a sue crazy society is part of the reason.I think, without a doubt, that some people choose to die rather than be strapped in medical debt for life --- very, very SAD --- where is human compassion anymore ??? Yes , doctors have to make a living BUT to the extent that it financially ruins and wrecks others lives --- to me is just awful --- and ,as mentioned, the family in this article HAD HEALTH INSURANCE.
Here are two citizens who tried hard and failed anyway.
Maybe the rich should have a BIG tax increase.
This country is really only good for people with money. They can get the best insurance, investment help, lawyers. The rest of the ever increasing poor working class are just waiting for something better.
Maybe a higher minimum wage?
Maybe a way to get medical help without being pounced on by corporate medicine, insurance magic middlemen, and lawyer collectors?
Remember George Bush the first talking about a "kinder and gentler America"?
That all looks sadly funny now. This recession/depression cut a lot of people off at the knees and they aren't going to be getting up again.
Is there a donation fund to help these people? Maybe we could buy them an affordable house.
If everyone gives 20 bucks I bet it could happen.
And when his family is on his feet they can give 20 bucks to another family.
Goldfish There is not one that I know of but there are some things I am doing that is helping some
www.2hands.org
www.modestneeds.org
www.craiglist.org check out your state's general section for people posting
helping out at local food pantries, shelters
In reality, this is not a surprise.
As individuals, one way we can support people who are in situations like this is to show them the respect they deserve as honest, hard-working people who are doing everything them can to support their families. One of the biggest mistakes that American culture teaches us to make is to accord respect on the basis of money and material possessions. That's a big mistake.
Look at those two parents, and at least one of their kids: they're fat slobs. Maybe the husband's obesity has to do with his medical problems, and can't be reversed; but what about the wife or the kid? I'm so damn tired of Americans today, who eat like pigs, and expect a high lifestyle. I'm serious when I say that perhaps this family's money problems were at least in a small way caused by their high food bills. And, another commenter was right when he or she said that the 16 year-old could have watched the other kids, so that the wife wouldn't have had to give up her job. I suspect that this family had a high lifestyle with all the gadgets peeps seem to need today, and that that also contributed to their problems. I don't feel sorry for these people. Americans don't like to hear the truth, but many who are "suffering" today are at fault for their problems because of their lifestyles--and even those who are truly poor live better than poor people in other countries. Again, try telling the average American the truth, or expect that he or she has the brains to discuss a serious topic....(and I myself am a third-generation resident of New York State.) I can only imagine the rebuttals that will be made to my comments--not that I'm going to pay any attention.
I'd guess you'd be happier if they were skinny crack addicts, have some compassion, people who don't have money eat junk because it's cheaper than good wholesome food.
The cheapest foods are the ones that are most likely to make you fat. Poverty and obesity go hand-in-hand in our society. If you can't figure that out, perhaps you are too stupid to be commenting.
I'm amazed at how everyone justifies eating crap ( and they you are sick and incur medical bills.) Eating healthy might cost more up front, but not having to pay fr medical care will be a huge savings. Oh, and 60 million people in this country are on food stamps and I can bet you a dime to a donut that there is NO way they are going to put down the hot cheetos for salad even when they get taxpayer money to do so!
No one is justifying eating crap, its a reality that crappy food is cheaper, and people are not thinking right now how their health will be affected, they are thinking I am hungry and need something to eat now - get a clue -
Just taking a look and listening to the medical issues, I would hazard a guess that one or possibly both have diabetes. Do some study on the subject instead of basing your thoughts on knee jerk prejudices. The comments in reply to your post were very reasonable...and I am sure you read them. I imagine that as you age and educate yourself you will see that life is not so simple as you now think. Compassion Friend.
In the 50s and 60s one could work minimum wage and still be able to afford a home and family. It used to take 1.3 weeks of work to pay for the rental. Now at minimum wage it takes 3.5 weeks. Adjusted for inflation, workers' wages have not kept up with inflation since 1999. While 8% of the middle class have been pushed into the lower class there has been an increase in the number of millionaires and billionaires in this country. The CEO salary of a company used to be 50 times their lowest paid employee in the 50s. Now it's 300 times.
Employees used to have full paid pensions and healthcare. Now the employee must pay for all their living expenses with an income that buys less than before and pay for retirement and healthcare expenses that used to be included with the job. It's no wonder workers are having a harder and harder time surviving.
On top of that, paid for government officials have given sweetheart tax breaks to the wealthy who now avoid paying taxes and reducing the governments coffers who now have to pay for the care of these ever increasing low wage workers who need government assistance to survive, producing a drain on government funds. Privatizing profits and socializing costs.
Stop using your brain and actually knowing things...it can be confusing to some.
It JHust seems that, in the past four years homelessness has doubled from what it was in the past. And, oh, by the way, Obama has been in the lead that same length of time. Is that just a coincidence or what?
OK blame Obama again, I lost my job just as Obama was taking office, so I can't blame him for that, how about the idiot that preceded him?
And yet the sterotyping will never stop. I can't in no way compare myself to this family. I am single with no kids.
However, I was employed with a good salary. 9-11 in 2001 help me loose that job in 2002. Sure collecting unemployement which ran out. But able to find steady work to be laid-off two more times. Currently employed but living with one of my two sisters and her family of three kids. Grown now but you're still sharing one of two bathrooms. Two successful sisters. I wonder where I ever went wrong.
My point is that I get questions all the time: "You have a job. How come you don't have your own place?" Answer is that I may have the job but not making enough for the high rents. I consider myself rich with money in the bank for a rainy day. But shelling the big bucks for rents; I probably won't be rich for long.
I love my family more then anything. But this family in the story as myself are not the real homeless bums and drunks on the streets. I am not a free loader to anybody. I don't pay real rent to my sister. But I do pay her for use of the house and feeding me.
But the stereotyping questions of all sorts will just keep coming and coming.
What if every working person was paid for just what they were worth, would they work for that wage ?
Have you priced out what it costs to rent an apartment nowadays? The median price here in Orange County CA is $2550 for a 3 bedroom apartment. Multiply that by 12 months and $30k a year is gone....
It is upsetting knowing that this is only one of thousands of stories out there. How can this be happening here? The decline of our once great nation is happening so quickly and there doesn't appear to be any concern to stop it from unraveling. I don't even want to think about what the bottom "is" going to look like.
Then get one far below the median price (which there are plenty), get a better job, or move elsewhere. This happens because people don't plan for the future and don't live within their means.
And that's why you live where you CAN afford it. I cannot afford to live in Beverly Hills, but I am not crying that I cannot afford it.
Huge amount of assumption and serious judgement in those responses. Perhaps you need to walk in some other shoes for awhile and taste how easy it is. You also might remember what the word empathy means when your children are in tears because they are hungry and you have nothing to feed them.
Cheralinn,
Its not assumption, its simple reasoning. I don't have to experience it to realize what it would be like and that I don't want to go through it.
Their children are well fed, so quit going for the sympathy argument. There is food everywhere in this country. If they can't find it, they have a problem.
Not a sympathy argument, simply a comment about what is happening in front of all of us, everywhere.
"This happens because people don't plan for the future and don't live within their means."
That is assumption considering you know nothing about them or the whole story.
What Americans are going to have to move to is the old idea of the extended family living together - it will become the only way to stay above water for a decent percentage of us soon.
I know all too well the risks of being under-employed and over my head in debt. College grad with BA in Business but took over 10 years to land a job that actually paid what my degree was worth. Divorced and paying child support that didn't go away or get reduced while I spent 9 months on unemployment. took a job for less than I had made and still couldn't get child support reduced for 2 years. My (new)wife attended college and without proper guidance from the college (who are only interested in money, not education) ended up with over $40k in student loans and only an associates degree because she decided to stop taking out more loans. Both of us are paying on student loans that are over 15 years old and there is not a government program that actually helps us but a new student can get lots of aid and payback programs that will make it easier for them. Bankruptcy only partially helps, can't get rid of most student loans and in our case we had to decide if we wanted to lose our best vehicle and our house or put ourselves at risk of losing the house later if we couldn't make the payments. STill have the car and house but can't sell as we owe more on both than we can sell for. Couldn't have replaced the car with a bankruptcy and have the car I need for my job so we opted to keep. Sure I can stop paying child support but then I could lose my drivers license or face garnishments and maybe do jail time. If I was a deadbeat then I could beat the system but that doesn't take care of my family now does it? signed: one bad break from homelessness...
Once again - it was YOUR bad choices that put you were you are. People need to stop putting blame every where else. You had a child that you could obviously not afford and then turned around and married someone else who doesn't seem all that sharp.
Poor choices on your part. You should have shopped loans better, checked out the school better, and maybe saved and then gone to school. People these days can't seem to wait for anything and don't realize the huge increase they are paying for their impatience.
My grandparents were smart enough to save up for college for their grandchildren and their children. They did without many luxuries, but had great savings accounts. Most people today do just the opposite. Have you started saving for yourself or your children? You might want to think about that the next time you pull up to a drive through. I started a college fund for my child while my wife was pregnant.
To all those who question how did they become homeless and why for so long, heed this. It was pointed out that medical bills eclipsed their living wages/salaries, taht there are several children, college loans, etc. Thankfully, they are together. The same economy that will let you qualify for an apartment (even high rent some places) will deny you access to mortgages, buying a car, etc. If you are ill, hospitals have a notice that you mist be treated by law, yet you will be billed. Even with insurance a doctor or dentist can refuse to see you if a) you do not have the co-pay in hand or b) you fall behind on payments. (Many of them are paying off student loans too.) All of them do not make fabulous salaries, unless they are surgeons and practise certain specialties. It easy to point fingers when you do not know the whole story.
When my child was a crime victim during college, I was offered shelter in a convent and a church. The other option would have been a long, unaffordable commute at least several times a week. I took it to be near my daughter on the condition that I could do extra work for the site (much needed I could see). It was liveable, and my nearest relative was an older widowed cousin who shared a small two-bedroom with her child. A sofa has no privacy. I stored everything (lost later in a warehouse fire in Baltimore) and did my family duty to all. My ex-husband is on assignment abroad for the firm he works for. In recent years, he remarried and his youngest of three was born disabled. For that reason, we rarely ask his help.
I would never make mother or teacher of the year when I was younger, because I am that lady you may have seen raging about my child, setting my child straight about independence, railing back at any laity or clergy that was not fulfilling their vows to serve a congregation or community. I had to quarrel with supervisors about paying student workers, newcomers, older staff, migrants, immigrants and myself well - including contracted wages, salaries, tips, etc. - on time. I have worked where the Aetna plan went up 400% in five years and opted out like some others did. I was in a no man's land, barely eligibe for pay-per-visit health and dental care at health department clinics. I really believe that having grandparents born in the Reconstruction and Victorian era and parens who were children during the Great Depression helped my work ethic, vaue system and frugality. In other words, I have always been glad to have a roof, however humble, minimal food, decent clothing and transportation on foot or by public transit. I have two graduate degrees, with a CPA ex-husband, and a daughter who never asked for more than one thing for Christmas. (One year it was for my asthma to be healed, and another year it was for a game of jacks.)
Once again, I am so proud to be a Christian. I know everyone is happy to bash churches when they stumble, but not the lack of praise now. My church also belongs to an Interfaith Hospitality Network. My heart breaks for the kids, but I'm grateful that the people of my church and the others in our community are willing to open their churches to these homeless families.
You don't have to be part of a religion to help others. In fact, secular charities are much preferred to the christian help that comes with a sermon and other strings attached, like discriminating those they help.
Hmmm... And what have you done to house the homeless?
Some should look up, How many die each year without insurance?
Did you know, Adults without dependents won't qualify for medicaid. A person under 65 won't qualify for medicaid unless your consider disable by Social Security Admistration.
My sister is unable to work, no income and days away from being homeless. She has a chronic kidney disease. Called Poly-cystic kidney disease which there is no cure. She's at the point now where she needs to be put on dialysis. But she can't get the necessary treatment she needs. All because SSA hasn't declared her disable yet. Until SSA declares her disable. She won't qualify for medicaid.
I called all kinds of places to find some help for her. But there's no places that will help. All because she doesn't have health insurance. Only thing for her to do is go to the ER.
Some people may think it's easy to get help but that's not true.
My question is, what exactly do you or anyone else think the country is supposed to do with paying for all these people who cannot work? Let's be honest, the country is broke - who's going to pay for it all? She's YOUR sister and I didn't hear you say YOU were paying for anything either. 60 million people are on food stamps; where is the money going to come from? The entitlement programs have gotten completely out of control and we now have half a country who voted for a man who promised them everything and they didn't have to do anything.
Both my sister and I been working since we were 18 yo. We worked most of our lives. We paid our taxes. My sister is 54 and I'm 50 I have medical issues and need several operations. Now I'm asking for some help. Only help we get now from the government is food stamps.
If our parents or grandparents were living I would ask them for help. But their not. We been selling everything and anything we can. At least, I'm not in debt. I paid cash for everything I own. How about you?
I'm just happy that the homeless family doesn't live in my state - South Carolina - where we have the largest case of hacking in the country - hacking into the state tax department where millions of us have had our personal income tax information hacked because the department didn't encrypt our SS numbers or credit card numbers, etc. And now our great state is spending $12m to let us enroll in an Experian credit watch company for one year; after that, I guess we'll have to pay around $240 for a year's protection! South Carolina, where at least half of the people vote against their own interest every election! Prayers for the homeless family ...
If all workers were paid what they were really worth, wood they work for that ?
Stop, and be thankful for what you have because it could be worse.
I can understand how they arrived in that position. I recently had a kidney stone that was difficult to pass. Once I became dehydrated, I went to the emergency room. The doctors bill was $1800. The hospital bill was $82,000 for the five days they kept me. The stone passed on the 4th day only after they removed the catheter.
We have a problem with our health care system. This occurred at the East Texas Medical Center in Tyler. They see no problem with their bill.
$82,000 for a 5 day hospital stay? That's INSANE - what the HELL could they charge over $16K a day for?
Tired of everyone making excuses. These are COLLEGE educated people and cannot figure out how to afford an apartment for God's sake? The wife and oldest daughter could also hold down part time jobs as well. This is EXACTLY why people should not have children until they are fairly stable and know how to manage their OWN lives. Unless YOU are willing to pay for all people who are in similar situations, do get all high and mighty with what I said. We have half this country who are sponging off the other half, and I do not know how it EVER became anyone else's responsibility. The "Taxpayer" did not come into existence to be a support system because people do things they shouldn't or make bad choices. That's why instead of helping people out they are giving them handouts for life, and others have decided that if it's good enough for one, then it's even better for 60 million ( who are currently on food stamps.) Again, don't get all high and mighty with telling me I'm a bad person, etc. The country is bankrupt, so how do you think America will continue to be able to give handouts to all these people? We borrow from China, but China is going to put a stop to that as well as they know we can never pay back what we already owe.