Truth 4: People want to work
“Serena”
Alamance County, NC, aid provider and former aid recipient.
Looking for Work
Before I got this job I was actually living in Roxboro. I was going to school. I have three daughters of my own, and so we were all getting Medicaid. There was no child support coming in from my ex-husband… Continue reading
“Bob”
Work Ethic & Family Help —Alamance County, NC, public official— But our country, if we don’t straighten it up fiscally, there’s going to be more people that need real help, and we ain’t going to be able to pay it. … Continue reading
Kimberly
Alamance County, NC. Aid recipient and volunteer.
Battling Mental Illness
My story is, I came to North Carolina because I found myself near being homeless when I was in Las Vegas. I lost my job. I lost my apartment, so I came here to live with my mother. My mom soon after sold the property in which we were living in, and she moved in with her boyfriend, so that left me homeless. Continue reading
Jackie
Alamance County. Aid recipient.
Left Alone to Raise a Family
I’ve had three boys, and I had a daughter, she died when she was two and a half months old After she was gone, I went ballistic [laughs], yeah. I had a nervous breakdown, I got pregnant, married, and I didn’t love the man I was married too. Didn’t love nothing. I went to work every day, came home, but I had an alcoholic and a drug addict for a husband. Continue reading
Christine
Alamance County. Aid recipient.
Caring for Sick Parents
I was enrolled at GTCC [Guilford Technical College]. I was living in a family home with my parents taking care of them. My father got really bad. He started having seizures, which they thought were strokes. Well, things started going south at that point Continue reading
“Peyton”
Alamance County, NC. Aid recipient.
Illness Makes Finding Work Hard
So I got laid off about four years ago, maybe five. Anyway, so I went back to school, took up appliance repairing, GTCC [Guilford Technical Community College], but as soon as I finished the program, which is about a year, I had a stroke. So it hinders my employability now because no one wants to hire a person who had a stroke Continue reading
Cola
“Making the Safety Net More Visible in Philadelphia,” by Jon Hurdel. New York Times, Aug. 30, 2013. Photo by Mark Makela/New York Times. Cola Dockery, 34, was released from prison in February after serving six months for burglary and armed robbery, … Continue reading