If This Does Not Break Your Heart

[launderess]

Sudsman's post in another thread of mine regarding the 1960's, put me thinking of another matter that has been on my mind lately.

Saw the following while watching the evening news a few weeks ago, and cannot get it out of my mind. Weeped then, still weep now and have prayed over it quite a great deal.

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2009/05/21/business/childofrecession/main5032343.shtml

 

[sudsmaster]

It's sad that this sort of thing is still a problem. Those families should be eligible for assistance: food stamps, welfare, etc. I know some, like my Mom, may be too proud to accept such help even if it existed (and I don't think food stamps existed when we needed them most in the mid-60's). And I'd hope that Tristan's mom would be eligible for some sort of extension on her unemployment benefits, esp since hers ran out after three months, and they are supposed to run for six months...

It's one thing to react to stories like this that make the national news. But they are just the tip of a very big iceberg. Perhaps what we can do is to recognize if we run across a family closer to home facing the same sort of critical poverty, and do what we can, in money, food, or advocacy, to help them. If you have kids, ask them if there are any other kids in school who seem to be the poorest of the poor, unusually, skinny, badly clothed, malnourished. The answer may surprise you.

 

[frigilux]

This is happening to many families. I have a neighbor who lost his job and is struggling. He is divorced and raising his daughter on his own. I've been taking groceries and meals to them as often as I can, but I'm pretty sure he's going to lose his very modest house.

I hate to see little kids have to bear what should be adult problems. Fortunately, kids are also amazingly adaptive and resilient.

A message to everyone at AW: Give food to your local foodshelf! More people than ever are in need. Those of us who are weathering this economic mess need to help those who struggling.

 

[sudsmaster]

In '63 our problems were not primarily related to the economy. My dad was an unrepentant alcoholic, and lost his job. He was also quite bad with money, and all the loans and 2nd mortgages came to a head and one fine day we were evicted from the home I'd known since birth. The very same day Mom packed up the kids, took the $300 she'd saved from her Mom's will, and we took Greyhound buses for three days and three nights cross country to SF, where an old friend of hers agreed to put us up for a few nights until we found other lodging - a one bedroom apartment for five people. I slept on the floor on the sofa cushions for that first year (and they had a bad trait of separating in the middle!). After that, we had these funky box springs that Mom tacked legs on, and we slept directly on those. At age 12 I felt like I was 70. LOL.