My name is Sally; I am a single parent and
live with my teenage daughter. I am getting help from the TANF and ASPIRE
Programs and I just began working at a full time job. The ASPIRE Program
helped me get my car back on the road so that I could look for a job. My
car's over 10 years old and has almost 150,000 miles on it. It had no
muffler and a broken windshield. I had no way to pay to have it fixed with
just the $363 a month from my TANF check and I couldn't legally drive the
car without the repairs it needed.
Now that it's repaired and safe to drive I
have a reliable way to get back and forth to work. I've just applied for a
second job in Portland. There's no way I could ever do both without having a
car I can depend on. Even though there's some bus service in my area it's
pretty limited and I can't depend on it. It doesn't run near my new job, or
during the evening hours when I'll be working some of the time this summer.
In the past I've tried to work without a
car-I've walked three miles one way to work and then home again in all kinds
of weather and have tried to depend on other people for rides. Walking
sometimes isn't safe, and no matter how well intentioned other people have
been, those arrangements just haven't turned out to be reliable enough to
hold down a job.
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