July 24, 2009
Taking the Time to Make a Difference
An everyday story: Waiting till January for Christmas
BY PAUL R. LEINGANG
I know what it is like to have a toothache.
I can sympathize with people who have no way to get to work, because I have experienced the uncertainties of owning an old car, and what it is like on a winter morning when the battery is dead.
I also know what it is like to make a bad choice — for example, to buy a new stereo system instead of paying the utility bills.
What I don’t know, though, is what it is like to be homeless. Or what it is like to have a home that most people would find unacceptable, at a cost most people would find unaffordable.
I recently read the story of a woman from Evansville who is struggling to live an ordinary life.
The ordinary part is what makes the story so compelling. There is no catastrophic illness, no sudden unfortunate event — just the everyday pressures of home, family and job.
The writer of this story has a job, she works hard, she gets a regular paycheck — but she really can’t afford a decent home.
She doesn’t want her name to be published, but her story is as true as it is important.
* * *
She pays a large part of her earnings for her apartment. She is a nurse’s aid, and she is a steady, faithful employee.
“I have been working there for 13 years and feel like I have a very important job. Despite my work I am one of the many working poor that struggles with affordable housing in this area.”
She is a success, in the eyes of many.
“I will let you know that I was raised on the welfare system. I was the product of a single mother home, and I myself was a young and single mother. I am proud to say I have broken that cycle. I am not on welfare, but still I struggle to make ends meet.”
Ordinary life costs a lot.
“By the time I pay the light bill, the gas bill, water bill, gas for the car, insurance for the car, there is barely enough money left for food at the end of the month! . . . It is a sickening feeling knowing that before you even get to work that your pay check is already spent on just taking care of the basic necessities.”
Everyday life is tough enough. Special occasions are even more difficult.
“In order to get the basics paid for I don’t get such luxuries such as being able to buy my son a new shirt for school when I want or to celebrate Christmas in December like the rest of people. . . . It is because there is no money left in December with electric and gas bills to buy presents for my kids. January is the fastest I can get my tax refund check to buy gifts.”
She wonders, “How would you feel as a parent that works all day to tell their kids that they have to wait until January for Christmas?”
* * *
It is quite clear to me that a toothache needs immediate attention. A wage-earner needs transportation to a paying job. But it is hard to describe the challenges of a working woman who pays too much rent for a substandard apartment.
The nurse’s aid who shared her story has opened my eyes to see. How about yours?
Habitat for Humanity helps many people. An affordable housing trust fund could help many more. Habitat can build a home in a week or two. An affordable housing trust fund is painfully slow at accomplishing anything — but its impact could be just as life-changing.
Cities, states and the federal government have established and encouraged the use of such trust funds. But it takes time to get them working. It takes a commitment to provide a “stream” of revenue into such a trust fund.
It takes time to see a contractor getting assistance to build affordable housing. It takes time to see how a landlord could improve substandard rental homes so that they would be decent places to live.
A toothache is immediate. Minutes mean a lot to a stranded motorist. A nurse’s aid in an everyday job seldom gets the attention she should.
Can you wait till January for Christmas? Or walk a mile in her non-slip nurse’s shoes?
Comments are welcome at office@cfm.org or the Christian Family Movement, P.O. Box 925, Evansvsille, IN 47706-0925