As I came in from Easter Brunch I cut on the TV and an HBO Documentary was just starting, so I sat down to watch, and I found myself feeling these peoples pain. This documentary put a different twist to the dynamics of needy and gave new faces to the cause of the homeless. These are people who speak of the American Dream and for years were living just that. They were not wealthy, but some were blue collar workers and some white collar workers, but with one thing in common they were the middle class.
The faces you are about to see are the faces you would expect to see on pubic assistance, food stamps etc. Each of these people worked hard to provide for there families and are very prideful people. They themselves spoke of how they thought only the needy should qualify for assistance and thought too many people misused the system as all of us has said this same thing before. But, yet when these people were laid off of jobs some making over 100,000 a year or more they found they were 3 to 5 pay checks from living on the street. Some had severance and along with unemployment stayed afloat for a while, but then there unemployment benefits ran out they still could not find work.
Overview: As the economy slowly recovers from the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression, an increasing number of families are caught in a daily struggle to meet basic needs. At the same time, the social safety net intended to help those in crisis has been weakened by budget cuts, creating a perfect storm of greater need and fewer resources for the vulnerable. Viewed through the stories of eight families, AMERICAN WINTER reveals the devastating fallout of the mortgage meltdown, unemployment, the health care crisis and a shrinking social safety net. Included in the film are interviews with local economic experts, policy analysts, religious leaders and social workers.
Some were told that were over qualified for the positions they were seeking. John the 50 year old was actually informed that he was too old for the position since some of his co-worker had landed jobs with a company, but they were younger than John. John has a Down Syndrome son Geral that he has to care for and is doing everything to keep his farm do that Geral will not have to move into a new environment with different surroundings that would be hard for Geral to adapt to. Diedre a RN could not get the nurses aid job she applied for because they said she was over qualified. Then there is Shanon & Chelsea and Chelsea is 12 years old with stomach ulcers worried about money and how her mother will pay her medical bills since her mom worked, but had no insurance and made too much money to qualify for medicaid. Most of these people have been laid off from big corporations and went to work at 3 minimum wage jobs just trying to make ends meet.
It is so sad when you see people just trying to get a leg up and every time they get up there is something else to bring them back down. I had talked of "Corporate America" the other day when I was speaking of my moms job in banking working in mergers and acquisitions. My mom actually worked on bank mergers and was very good at it. When my mom started she had a CPA but in today's world one would have to have a MBA, because it is a whole new ball game and the players are different. My mom never had to witness buyouts "Thank God"
The Families
TJ &Tara -After TJ gets laid off from his job, he and his wife Tara struggle to provide for their three children on her minimum wage income. Forced to choose between paying their mortgage or electricity bill, the family recalls what it is like to have no lights and no heat in the middle of winter.
John & Geral – 50-year-old John is now facing a third year of unemployment and despairs that he’ll soon lose his ranch, Growing discouraged with his fruitless job hunt, John must also cope with feelings of shame when he is forced to apply for food stamps in order to feed himself and his 10-year-old son Geral, who has Downs Syndrome.
Brandon & Pam – With Brandon frustrated by a series of close calls on the job front, Pam is forced to go with her two young sons to a women’s shelter to get assistance with basic provisions. Unable to pay rent, the family moves into Pam’s mother’s two-bedroom apartment.
Diedre & Jalean– Though college-educated RN, Diedre was laid off from her job along with 1500 other employees during the Recession, and has turned to donating plasma and selling scrap metal to make ends meet for her family of five.
Ben & Paula – After working at the credit branch of a car company, Ben was laid off and quickly fell behind on the mortgage to the distress of his wife and kids. As the family copes with the trauma of losing their home to foreclosure, they also find themselves struggling to pay for basics.
Shanon & Chelsea– A single mother, Shanon got into debt because her 12-year-old daughter suffers from a stomach condition requiring hospitalization, causing her to miss 3 months of work. Hit with expensive medical bills that her insurance company will not cover, Shanon is now struggling to pay the rent.
Mike & Heather – Mike, Heather and their three children are left without water, electricity or heat, and have turned to a generous neighbor to run an extension cord from his garage. Completely demoralized, Mike finds he can’t even afford gas to go and look for a job.
Jeannette and Gunner – When Jeannette’s husband died recently, she and her 11-year-old son Gunner were left to fend for themselves. Unable to keep their home, they slept in a garage and in their car before ending up in a shelter.
Expectations: I’m not quite sure how to take this one. My expectations are pretty high for like everyone else, I know stories from my own community of the hardships people have endured over the past few years. Can this documentary show me something different that I haven’t already heard? But, why should I doubt that it shouldn't be able to offer something different. First, it comes to me via HBO and their top-notch documentaries rarely totally disappoint. Plus, my first person perspective is from a small rural community and not even from a mid-sized city let alone a major city like Portland Oregon. I suspect I am going to see how really bad it is out there.
We're at a crossroads as a country. We are either going to decide that we need a strong middle class and a viable safety net, or we are going to continue the trend towards rising poverty, shrinking wages, cutting budgets and services, a disappearing middle class, and the democratization of all those who find themselves in need of social services. GET INVOLVED and help American Winter impact communities across the country and at all levels of government. Together we can galvanize a movement for positive change!
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