Can't Pay The Bills
July 28, 2016 at 4:25 p.m.
By -
I'm a 35-year-old father of four. My wife and I have been together for 12 years. We have always struggled financially, but with family and friends, have always managed to scrape by.
I worked in the RV industry for close to eight years. Until this year, things were looking up for us. We were looking to buy our first home, and financially we were stable. However, things change, I was laid off from the company in which I worked so hard for. I never saw it coming. I knew things were bad. I had not worked a 40-hour week in nearly four months. That alone was making this year probably my worst.
Running behind on bills, such as rent, electric and gas, we were devastated. So we reached out for help. Our electric was shut off, the gas company was going to lock our tank and our landlord is slowly becoming impatient. Thankfully, CCS of Warsaw stepped up and helped, by paying our past due electric so it wouldn't be shut off, and introduced us to the Energy Assistance Program. Leaving the rent and gas, which without home gas and electric, mean nothing. I wasn't looking for long-term assistance. My wife had started working, not making much money, but it helps to feed us. My unemployment was starting to come in, also not much but it helps. We're buried in debt, and I don't see us catching up any time soon.
I know that there are families worse off then we are. It doesn't seem like there would be, but I'm sure there is. I was just looking for some help to carry me through two months at the most, only to find out that they cannot help me because of my job history, and my "gross" income for the year. It doesn't matter what your net pay is, which is what we all live off of, not taking into account deductions such as taxes, child support (three children were from a previous marriage), insurance, uniforms and in some cases 401K deductions, etc. etc. etc. Totaled up these can severely cut a pay check in half, not leaving much money for the family to live off of.
Because I had worked this year, and my "gross" income, I'm not eligible for the EAP. Because I worked? They said I had to be off work for 13 weeks. Thirteen weeks. By then I will have lost everything I have worked for.
So now what?
Jesse Deaton
Silver Lake
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I'm a 35-year-old father of four. My wife and I have been together for 12 years. We have always struggled financially, but with family and friends, have always managed to scrape by.
I worked in the RV industry for close to eight years. Until this year, things were looking up for us. We were looking to buy our first home, and financially we were stable. However, things change, I was laid off from the company in which I worked so hard for. I never saw it coming. I knew things were bad. I had not worked a 40-hour week in nearly four months. That alone was making this year probably my worst.
Running behind on bills, such as rent, electric and gas, we were devastated. So we reached out for help. Our electric was shut off, the gas company was going to lock our tank and our landlord is slowly becoming impatient. Thankfully, CCS of Warsaw stepped up and helped, by paying our past due electric so it wouldn't be shut off, and introduced us to the Energy Assistance Program. Leaving the rent and gas, which without home gas and electric, mean nothing. I wasn't looking for long-term assistance. My wife had started working, not making much money, but it helps to feed us. My unemployment was starting to come in, also not much but it helps. We're buried in debt, and I don't see us catching up any time soon.
I know that there are families worse off then we are. It doesn't seem like there would be, but I'm sure there is. I was just looking for some help to carry me through two months at the most, only to find out that they cannot help me because of my job history, and my "gross" income for the year. It doesn't matter what your net pay is, which is what we all live off of, not taking into account deductions such as taxes, child support (three children were from a previous marriage), insurance, uniforms and in some cases 401K deductions, etc. etc. etc. Totaled up these can severely cut a pay check in half, not leaving much money for the family to live off of.
Because I had worked this year, and my "gross" income, I'm not eligible for the EAP. Because I worked? They said I had to be off work for 13 weeks. Thirteen weeks. By then I will have lost everything I have worked for.
So now what?
Jesse Deaton
Silver Lake
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