March 2020 Newsletter

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Living Paycheck To Paycheck

A 2017 survey by employment website CareerBuilder reports that 78% of American full-time workers are living paycheck to paycheck, a trend that crosses over income groups. Households are one mishap away from not paying the rent or mortgage. Family, friends, and credit cards are not always available to fill the gap.

For Ted, it was a day like any other in a long career of blue-collar jobs. He was bending down to stock shelves when it happened. A sharp pain shot into his knee. His doctor prescribed light duty work; however, his employer had no work like that. Ted concluded that for a $12.50 per hour job with no benefits and only a minor injury, he had no recourse on his employer. He lost his job, but just needed a short time for his injury to heal. He left his roommate, who could financially manage, to go to the Mission. He had been here once before during a three month seasonal layoff. His knee quickly recovered and soon he had a new job through the Employment Department doing property maintenance. It pays $12 per hour with benefits. For a month, he slept in our dormitory, until his name rose to the top of the list to rent a room in our Transitional Housing Program. He just needed a paycheck to have his own place again.

Ted is a veteran. He served six years in the Navy as a torpedo man on a submarine. Obviously, there is no need in the civilian sector for experience like that. However, he was able to use his training in hydraulics, pneumatics, electricity, pipe fitting, and valves. He said Mission life is very similar to military barracks, dayrooms, and chow halls. And he likes our meals. The initial uncertainty was in the kind of people that would be here and the rules. But he said, the supervisors filled him in on the operation and are very kind, patient, and understanding. In the picture above, he is standing by our dishwashing machine, an area that he worked to earn his bed voucher when he was sleeping in our dormitory.

Ted grew up in an unchurched home and remained so, until he arrived at the Mission. Here, a seed has been planted and is being watered. He said, “I have witnessed God’s beauty in the wilderness, and He spared my life a few times. I have been thinking about it my whole life. Then, I went from total freedom to not, its an eye opener, a very humbling experience.” He heard our messages, but kind of ignored that part of the Mission schedule. Then he admitted, “As I listened on a nightly basis, I actually began to talk to God.”