Life. Illuminated.
This is the first family I have been able to work with on this project so far. This is a family of four: Mom, Dad, 4 year old son, and 2 year old son.
They had originally lived in Seattle. Felix [the father] works in printing, managing print houses, and saw the company he was working for faltering under the recession pressure. They made a family decision to quit his current job and move to Billings Montana. Their home sold for only $4,000 more than what they owed on it, and with some good leads and a lot of hope they set off for Billings.
Billings turned out to be a 5 month struggle as he looked for work. Billings being a smaller city did not offer up many jobs for them to apply for. After their 5 month attempt in gaining employment, they decided to come to Salt Lake City.
While a bigger city Salt Lake has not yielded good results for this family either. Felix spends all day looking for work, and they have had to sell their car, personal items, and furniture to keep up with their bills, rent, etc.
Their kids are genuinely happy. While I was talking with them, their sons were running around like kids should. Jumping around, wrestling, and laughing. You would know that they have been jobless for 9 months if you looked at their kids. But you can see it wearing on them through their eyes. He has applied at fast food restaurants, janitorial, and labor, but gets turned away. They fear he will continue to look for a higher paying job and leave them in a month or two.
When asked what is the hardest part of this 9 month saga they both agree not having their old lifestyle. Buying new clothes, eating out, in short disposable income. From time to time they will go out to McDonalds for a treat, but end up feeling guilty for a week because they could of paid that much more on rent, or other bills.
When asked what good has come of this, they both unhesitatingly say that it has been good to spend more time with each other. Their family bond is much stronger than before. If they can ride this out together, they will have a bond stronger than they ever.
Felix is still looking for work. They get assistance whenever they can, but as most people who have never had to live this kind of life they don’t overtly ask for it.
If anyone would like to help this family in their time of need, please contact me and I’ll make arrangements to meet with them.
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Have camera, will travel.
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