American Winter Page #2

find that they were

being laid off.

No matter how well-educated

they are or how experienced,

the fact that they're

older, above 50,

they can't get other jobs.

They spent their retirement

trying to, you know,

survive long enough,

and now they have nothing.

All right, you guys.

I got certified as

a medical assistant,

cardiac technician,

and phlebotomist.

I worked for

the Alpha Plasma Center

and they laid off 1,500 people.

I went and I got into a field

that I thought was practical.

If you become a medical

assistant, it's a growing field,

but they don't tell you

that you're gonna become

a medical assistant and still be

making minimum wage.

- What?

- I got to go.

Scrapping is basically

when you recycle metal.

On this scale, you're

recycling refrigerators

and stoves and washers

and dryers.

On a good day,

if 4 of us go out,

then we have to split

the money 4 ways.

So if we make a hundred

dollars that day,

it's $25 for everybody.

When you literally put in

more than 8 hours,

you're not even making

minimum wage.

People do what they have

to do to make it,

so you can donate plasma

every other day.

I like donating plasma less

than going scrapping.

You know, it's just something

that I do to make ends meet

and try to make sure

that we're not hungry

for too many days

out of the month.

I walked into

the house and she was sitting

in the kitchen in the dark and

I was like, "Mom, what's wrong?"

And, like, she was crying

because she just didn't know

what she was

going to do for food

for the next couple of weeks.

And, like, I just couldn't do

anything but hug her

and, like, tell her

that I was going to be OK.

People want to work.

You know, people just say to me

over and over on the phone,

"I want to work. I want a job.

I will do anything,

and I can't get one. "

They don't want

to live in poverty.

Are you kidding me?

Is that the electric bill?

- Let me see it.

- This is impo...

It's $1,200, T.J.

There's no way I can pay

$1,200 in two weeks, so

it's to keep

our lights on or...

or keep our house.

- Keep our lights on or keep our house?

- Mm-hmm.

I'm trying to work

12 to 13 hours a day

just to try to get

our house payment paid.

It's minimum wage.

I'm making $8.75

an hour.

I'm not making the money

to pay for our house,

you know, and he's

working his butt off

to try to find a job.

I can get a second job.

How can you get a second job?

I can't even find

a fricking job.

We got to do

something, T.J.

I try not to blame myself,

but I was the main provider

for so long, it's hard not to.

I wake up from night

terrors all the time.

I wake up screaming, crying.

My main thing is, is

I lose my kids 'cause

I can't make the money

to provide for them.

I literally could come

home and we could have

a 72-hour notice

on our door.

And at that point,

we have nowhere to go.

Do you want to go stand

on the street with a sign?

Oh, I don't know. I'm not

holding no fricking sign.

Yet.

A friend of mine had told me

that they had just fired,

like, 4 people.

And I said, "Well, I'm

interested in applying. "

This place, they paint cars.

It's not as much money

as I'm used to making.

I don't care, you know? Long as

there... get some more money

coming in and take some

of that weight off of Tara.

Thank you for calling 211.

Please press 1 for English.

My house payment's so

high that I have no money for food.

I've been pretty

much out of work for two and a half years.

We don't come up with the

money in 3 days, we got to get out.

I got 3 kids depending on us

to keep a roof over their heads.

My name is Bev.

- Hi.

- Hi.

And I'm going

to be taking you back

to get some food, and

you have a family of?

- 5.

- 5. OK.

Family of 5.

OK. Perfect.

By the beginning of 2010,

the clients were changing.

They were no longer

the traditional people

who needed social services.

Now we're seeing

these people who

are stunned to be

in this situation.

- This is a new, relatively

new experience for me. - Yeah.

Not something that we do.

I can remember...

It's OK.

Oh! This is, like,

a hundred dollars' worth

of groceries for us.

It's a lot for me.

- It helps a lot.

- Good.

I'm glad we can do it.

They feel guilty.

Two years ago, they were giving

to a food pantry, and now,

they're pressed to buy

a half a gallon of milk.

And they have 3, 4 kids at home.

And I don't think that's unique

to Portland in any way.

You know, this is just not something

that I'm used to doing, and...

You can help somebody

another time.

We used to talk about,

like, what we were going

to do with our life and

our dreams and what we

wanted for the kids,

and all we talk

about now is money.

Forget the dreams. How do we

make it to tomorrow?

Right.

Tomorrow's the dream.

This dinner is the dream.

You can turn the lights on

and turn the water on.

That's a dream.

I hear them

in bed sometimes

saying, "We skipped dinner

because we need

to feed our kids. "

It makes you feel

that it's your fault

that they have to

pay food for us

and that's wasting

their money for us.

Sometimes when I hear that,

I cry sometimes.

One of the things we have is

a vibrant social safety

net of non-profits.

They can't keep up

with the onslaught,

and it's not just for food.

It's also for

the utility shut-offs,

need help with rent.

The non-profit sector,

are they able

to meet the increased demand

when you have a great recession?

Absolutely not.

Come on, Brandin!

Come on, Brandin!

Go, Brandin!

Chelsea's wrestling manager for

- the sixth, seventh, and eighth grades.

- How's she doing?

It's a long road still.

We just went in Monday and had

her stomach dilated again.

She's probably missing

a lot of school, isn't she?

She added it up the other day,

and I think she's missed

40 days of school.

Wow.

My middle daughter

was complaining

of stomach problems.

She was just laying

on the couch, crying

and crying and crying, "Mommy, it hurts.

Mommy, my tummy hurts. "

They did a scope

and a upper G.I.,

and found out

that she had 5 ulcers

and one severely bleeding ulcer.

And they put a tube, a feeding

tube in through her nose.

That was, I think,

the worst thing that

I've ever dealt with.

A feeding tube and

it went up my nose,

down my throat,

and into my stomach

and past my digestive system.

Sometimes I've woke up

feeling sick

and I screamed and tried

to rip it out of my nose.

- I was off work for almost 3 months.

- Oh, right.

And I'm slowly

just now...

I mean, I haven't even

begun to get caught up,

but now my insurance is saying,

"Oh, by the way, this month

and this month, you

didn't have insurance. "

So I have a $49,000 doctor

bill that they're saying

that I didn't have insurance

for, so I have to pay it.

Brandin's gonna wrestle.

- Come on, Brandin!

- Come on, Brandin!

Come on, kid.

Come on, Brandin!

Squeeze!

Squeeze, Brandin!

Nice job, Bubba!

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