They?re out of work. They know how they?re affected, how their families are affected, maybe how their own communities are affected by job loss. But as they travel halfway across the country, telling and listening to stories from 50 other bus riders, they?re learning that the nation?s job crisis is even worse than they?d imagined.
?I did not know the scope of what is happening,? said Sharon Godwin, of Cross Lanes, W. Va., who lost her job with AT&T last September after 27 years as a long-distance operator.
?That?s what affected everyone of us,? Godwin said. ?We were thinking we were on our own, that it was just us, or just our town. I am humbled by the perseverance of these people. Learning the truth has been humbling to a lot of us.?
 |
| The buses are a rolling billboard for the riders? mission. The slogan reads: 51 faces, 51 stories, and a job crisis that affects us all. |
Trying to wake up America
Godwin is one of 51 riders hoping they make a difference in getting workers and media everywhere to wake up to the economic reality in the nation today. The riders stopped in Minnesota Friday ? at a church-based food shelf in suburban Woodbury in the morning, then in Rochester later in the day.
The AFL-CIO?s ?Show Us the Jobs? tour is visiting 18 communities in 8 states on its way to Washington, D.C. The goal is to highlight the fact that 2.2 million jobs have vanished since President George W. Bush took office, that it?s taking people who find work longer than ever to do so, and that, for many, even getting a job means settling for less pay and fewer, if any, benefits.
Doing what you never thought you?d have to
During the stop at the Christian Cupboard, which operates out of Woodbury Lutheran Church, Beverly Smith told of having to use a food shelf for the first time in her life back in Connecticut. Smith, a 51-year-old licensed practical nurse, lost her job in January 2003 as a research assistant at the University of Connecticut when government funding was cut.
Since then, she has sold her life insurance and gone without health insurance in an attempt to get by. She also turned to her community?s food bank for help. ?It?s devastating and embarrassing,? she said.
Smith comes from a working family that doesn?t take handouts, she said. Some of her siblings still don?t understand why, more than a year later, she can?t find a job.
?It?s been an awakening for me,? she said. ?If you?re comfortable, you hear it but you don?t feel it.? Until it happens to you, she adds.
Different degrees of help
Kevin Miller, 40, of Millinocket, Maine, was laid off along with 2,000 other people from the Great Northern Paper Mill in 2002.
?I had to swallow my pride to ask for help just to put food on the table for my family,? the 40-year-old said. He drove past the food shelf a dozen times before he went in the first time, and even then, he helped unload trucks rather than ask for help.
His local food bank has gone from serving 50 families a month to 1,800 families a month, he told those gathered in Woodbury.
Godwin actually broke down in tears after helping stock shelves and bag groceries at Christian Cupboard. She helps out at the food shelf that her union, CWA Local 2001, helped set up in her hometown. But the food shelf can?t operate year-round because it doesn?t have warehouse space to store the pallets of donated food. It doesn?t even have space to stock the supplies for individual families. ?There are so many people we can?t help,? she said.
Use explodes
Food shelves in Minnesota know the feeling. Sue Kainz, of Food Share Minnesota, helps coordinate food distribution to 265 churches statewide as part of the Minnesota Council of Churches. Demand for food increased 15 percent last year and has increased by 35 percent in the past three years, Kainz said. Different kinds of people now rely on the food shelves, and they rely on them more often, she said.
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?We?re not just seeing low-income people. We?re seeing people from all income levels. They?ve lost their jobs, they?ve lost their incomes, they have no place else to go.?
 |
| Neka Carter, from Mississippi, stocks shelves at the Christian Cupboard food pantry at Woodbury Lutheran Church. |
Dick Wolff, director of Christian Cupboard, said he used to serve 5 families a month. That?s now up to 65 families.
When the food shelf first opened in the early 1980s, people used it to get through tough times, he said. That?s no longer the case. More and more, people who are working still need help as they have to sacrifice and downscale their expectations. ?They may have been making $50,000 a year, now they may be making only $8 or $10 an hour.?
For more information
Track the "Show Us the Jobs" tour on its website, www.showusthejobs.com
Related article
Bus tour highlights pain for jobless workers
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They?re out of work. They know how they?re affected, how their families are affected, maybe how their own communities are affected by job loss. But as they travel halfway across the country, telling and listening to stories from 50 other bus riders, they?re learning that the nation?s job crisis is even worse than they?d imagined.
?I did not know the scope of what is happening,? said Sharon Godwin, of Cross Lanes, W. Va., who lost her job with AT&T last September after 27 years as a long-distance operator.
?That?s what affected everyone of us,? Godwin said. ?We were thinking we were on our own, that it was just us, or just our town. I am humbled by the perseverance of these people. Learning the truth has been humbling to a lot of us.?
|
| The buses are a rolling billboard for the riders? mission. The slogan reads: 51 faces, 51 stories, and a job crisis that affects us all. |
Trying to wake up America
Godwin is one of 51 riders hoping they make a difference in getting workers and media everywhere to wake up to the economic reality in the nation today. The riders stopped in Minnesota Friday ? at a church-based food shelf in suburban Woodbury in the morning, then in Rochester later in the day.
The AFL-CIO?s ?Show Us the Jobs? tour is visiting 18 communities in 8 states on its way to Washington, D.C. The goal is to highlight the fact that 2.2 million jobs have vanished since President George W. Bush took office, that it?s taking people who find work longer than ever to do so, and that, for many, even getting a job means settling for less pay and fewer, if any, benefits.
Doing what you never thought you?d have to
During the stop at the Christian Cupboard, which operates out of Woodbury Lutheran Church, Beverly Smith told of having to use a food shelf for the first time in her life back in Connecticut. Smith, a 51-year-old licensed practical nurse, lost her job in January 2003 as a research assistant at the University of Connecticut when government funding was cut.
Since then, she has sold her life insurance and gone without health insurance in an attempt to get by. She also turned to her community?s food bank for help. ?It?s devastating and embarrassing,? she said.
Smith comes from a working family that doesn?t take handouts, she said. Some of her siblings still don?t understand why, more than a year later, she can?t find a job.
?It?s been an awakening for me,? she said. ?If you?re comfortable, you hear it but you don?t feel it.? Until it happens to you, she adds.
Different degrees of help
Kevin Miller, 40, of Millinocket, Maine, was laid off along with 2,000 other people from the Great Northern Paper Mill in 2002.
?I had to swallow my pride to ask for help just to put food on the table for my family,? the 40-year-old said. He drove past the food shelf a dozen times before he went in the first time, and even then, he helped unload trucks rather than ask for help.
His local food bank has gone from serving 50 families a month to 1,800 families a month, he told those gathered in Woodbury.
Godwin actually broke down in tears after helping stock shelves and bag groceries at Christian Cupboard. She helps out at the food shelf that her union, CWA Local 2001, helped set up in her hometown. But the food shelf can?t operate year-round because it doesn?t have warehouse space to store the pallets of donated food. It doesn?t even have space to stock the supplies for individual families. ?There are so many people we can?t help,? she said.
Use explodes
Food shelves in Minnesota know the feeling. Sue Kainz, of Food Share Minnesota, helps coordinate food distribution to 265 churches statewide as part of the Minnesota Council of Churches. Demand for food increased 15 percent last year and has increased by 35 percent in the past three years, Kainz said. Different kinds of people now rely on the food shelves, and they rely on them more often, she said.
online pharmacy order actos online with best prices today in the USA
?We?re not just seeing low-income people. We?re seeing people from all income levels. They?ve lost their jobs, they?ve lost their incomes, they have no place else to go.?
|
| Neka Carter, from Mississippi, stocks shelves at the Christian Cupboard food pantry at Woodbury Lutheran Church. |
Dick Wolff, director of Christian Cupboard, said he used to serve 5 families a month. That?s now up to 65 families.
When the food shelf first opened in the early 1980s, people used it to get through tough times, he said. That?s no longer the case. More and more, people who are working still need help as they have to sacrifice and downscale their expectations. ?They may have been making $50,000 a year, now they may be making only $8 or $10 an hour.?
For more information
Track the “Show Us the Jobs” tour on its website, www.showusthejobs.com
Related article
Bus tour highlights pain for jobless workers