Welfare, Work and Raising Children
Conversations
with Twenty-One Maine Families
Melissa
BANGOR, MAINE
"It's very, very hard for my family
to keep caught up on the bills even though we're doing the most we can right
now. I get very anxious when we can't pay a bill and people start calling to
ask for money that we don't have. My migraines get really bad and that makes
it harder to cope with all this."
My husband and I have a six-year-old daughter
who just went into kindergarten this year. We've both worked a lot in the
last several years, but we've also had to go to TANF for help from time to
time. The last time we got TANF was for a few months in 2000. My husband is
working now as a groundskeeper at a local cemetery. He makes $7.25 an hour
and is supposed to have a 40 hour week, but he doesn't get paid for the days
that the weather is bad and his crew doesn't get sent out. He'll lose his
job when cold weather comes in November.
I've had four jobs in the last year. The most
I made was $6.75 an hour. The other jobs paid just over $6.00. I worked at
two fast food restaurants, a nursing home and a big motel. My health hasn't
been good and I've been out of work for the last few months, but I just
applied for a new job at a food store that's opening up near me. I have
asthma, diabetes, arthritis, high blood pressure, migraine headaches and
also have anxiety and depression. I take lots of different medicines. My
daughter has allergies and needs inhalers and medicine too. We all get
Medicaid and it has been a real lifesaver. I don't know what we'd do without
it-I know we wouldn't be able to afford medicine.
We don't have a car and have to walk or take
the bus wherever we go. Sometimes we get a ride from friends. I hope that I
get offered a job on a shift during the time that the bus is running or I
don't know what I'll do.
We've had a lot of trouble keeping up with
our bills and sometimes just don't have enough money. We've had to go to the
food pantry. Sometimes we don't have enough money to pay our rent on time
and when we're late we have to pay a late fee that makes things worse.
I'm grateful that we still get some help from
the food stamp program and my daughter gets lunch at school. But still it is
very tough. We really just need more income to make ends meet and we also
need help with transportation.
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