Employment | Housing | Hunger | Health | Children
Anonymous Quotes
September 2009
On Overall Family Situation:
"We are a family of five. It’s me and my husband and our three kids, age eight, six, and three. None of them have been in day care. I raised them all because if I got a job and trying to pay for day care, that will be my whole check, gone. I’d rather stay at home and care for my kids anyways. My husband makes $10.50 an hour and we are still struggling."
On Food:
"Well, if it wasn’t for some of the programs they have, like Food Share and other systems, we wouldn’t be able to get by. I remember when we didn’t have Food Share, there wasn’t a lot of food in our house because you have to pay for the rent and you have to pay for electricity and all those things are a necessity to keep your family up and running. And you just can’t have a family out on the streets, and so all those things come first. And now we get Food Share, that kinda really helps us with that."
"Jefferson is a great school. They have a morning breakfast program that I know not all the schools in Oshkosh have, which I think would be another great thing is to have breakfast programs at all the schools. It shouldn’t be just a handful. All children should be able to have that opportunity."
On Housing/Utilities:
"Another program that would be cool is there is a lot of houses on the market right now, if somebody could buy those houses and then lease them out to ideal candidates that might be low income but have a good rental history, timely payments, people who can prove they are not just gonna mess up the opportunity, like a land contract, so people aren’t wasting money month after month on rent. The only opportunity we would have for a down payment would be like at tax time or a loan. Honestly, to get stuck in a loan payment on top of rent and this and that, it almost seems impossible."
On Health Care:
"If we didn’t have Medical Assistance, we would be struggling. We make it with our bills paid, but there is no extra. Health insurance through his work is extremely expensive. We couldn’t even consider that because it would take all our money away, it is $400 every two weeks on a family plan and that’s insane. At $10.50 an hour, sometimes if he is not getting full-time hours, then we are not even bringing home $400 in a two-week period. Medical Assistance is kind of a hassle compared to people who have more money and insurance can pick where they want to go and don’t have to be told where they have to go. We actually had to go above and beyond Medical Assistance to get dental insurance through my husband’s work. We have to pay for that because it’s too hard with Medical Assistance to find somebody who will take care of your routine appointments and having children, your kids need to be there every six months, so you just can’t go to Tri County Dental through the Head Start Program. That, to me, is unacceptable, but they need regular routine visits. And once we leave the Head Start program, we don’t have access to Tri County Dental Head Start base anymore. It’s really a hassle to try and get an appointment. They are scheduling appoints three to nine months out. And if you have a tooth ache or something is going on, nine months could make or break where that’s fixable. Head Start has set days where families with Head Start kids can go. If not, it’s really hard to get an appointment that’s say two weeks away. You are waiting months to be able to get in there."
On Transportation/Insurance:
"We are struggling for gas for my husband to get back and forth to work on a daily basis. If our cars need repair, we are kinda out of luck. And then it’s either walking or finding a ride. I just got into an accident a couple of weeks ago and I got reamed out by the officer because I don’t have car insurance. And she is like, ‘Why don’t you have it?’ Honestly, the money doesn’t go far enough. He makes only $10.50 an hour."
On Children and Child Care:
"There is a lot of people who are single families, who don’t have other people helping them, like a baby sitting service because everybody needs their time to get away. I know me and my husband never get time away from our kids. The grandparents aren’t very active in their children’s lives."
On Education:
"I have graduated high school with a GED. My husband just recently got his GED and he’s 30 years old. A lot of kids think, ‘oh, I don’t need school. I am just going to go out and get a job and that’s going to be it’ and not thinking about the bigger picture. You wanna work at Burger King for the rest of your life? Probably not. You wanna be making that big money, you wanna be able to have that house, send your kid to school, and you are definitely not going to do that working at Burger King. At the time it was, I thought I knew everything, and I felt I don’t need school, so I dropped out. A couple years later, I was like, geez, maybe I should get my GED. My husband just got his GED several months ago. And that’s another thing, we had to pay to take the test, and they just keep going up because he just paid $100 to take a GED test."
"We have three boys going to school and we have got school supplies and oh, my goodness, they are so picky with what you have to have now. You have to have Crayola, you have to have scissors, it has to be this type of glue and not that kind, you know. It’s definitely about $100 plus. There is a program for back to school where they help you out with school supplies and outfits, and some shoes for the kids and a haircut even. I don’t know if it’s because I was a Head Start parent, but I qualified for it. But this upcoming school year, I didn’t get nothing saying ‘hey, you know you are eligible for this’ or anything like that. I didn’t participate because I wasn’t offered the opportunity and that made it really hard."
On Employment:
"I don’t have a whole lot of work experience. When I was about 20, my dad became ill and I kinda helped my mom with him for a while. And then I find out I am pregnant, and you know I worked some odd and end jobs through staffing agencies for a while there. And my first son was born with a problem with his lung so his pediatrician said absolutely no day care, not stores, keep him out of hospitals, anyplace that’s crowded. So, basically, I was just a stay-at-home mom. And then I had a job as an apartment manager of a 48-unit complex in Appleton and that worked out for a while, but I was constantly on the run. It was a job where I can take my kids to work because it was in an apartment complex. It was not good pay. I didn’t even get full rent, and I was working all the time, constantly on the go, on call, so when I had my second son I basically had to step away from that. Then we had a little time in between when I got another job when I worked as a Linen Associate at Mercy and then I had kid number three. One of my kids is not old enough to be in school full time. I would think that if I get a job, it would end up going for day care, and there wouldn’t be much left because I don’t have a whole lot of skills. So I am not going to get more than minimum wage, you know, and that’s not enough to live on."
"My husband makes $10.50 an hour and we are still struggling. You know, it’s hard. He’s the Special Events Supervisor where he sets up for banquets and weddings and stuff like that at the Hilton Garden Inn. He has been looking for jobs in the paper and on the Internet, and there is nothing really out there. And if it is, you have to have a skill or something to get in there and that makes it hard. They are holding pay raises right now possibly at his job, like people aren’t getting them, and it only happens once a year when you get your review. So, there is a lot of people at the Hilton who have lost their job, people have been laid off, salaried people. It’s like, who’s next? If they are laying off managers and stuff like that, trying to cut back on costs, then it comes to the little guys that aren’t supposedly as important. It seems kinda scary."
On Life Goals:
"Well, me and my husband want to own a house. We are wasting money, we are wasting thousands of dollars just through paying rent. The last place we lived, we were there for 4 ½ years. This place we are going on 2 years. I want something that I can call my own home, something that when I am not here, my kids can have or just something we can do with what we want and not worry to ask the landlord to re-do the kitchen. Why would I want to do that if it’s not mine? I want all my kids to go to college. I want to be able to pay for that and it seems like an impossible thing, can’t even start a savings account for my kids because every penny is stuck into rent, and utilities, and necessities for our home."
On Desire for Self-Sufficiency and Shield Children from Family Economic Struggles:
"In a way I am a proud person and so is my husband. We don’t like having to ask other people for things. It’s great that these program are here, but we hope we never have to use them. I know there is people who are less fortunate than us who could use it. I feel bad enough as it is for using Food Share and Medical Assistance. I would like to eventually get away from it and be able to provide for our family ourselves and not have to depend on somebody. If there was a way to help us out of this situation that would be most beneficial because I don’t like being poor, wondering how I am going to pay for my kids’ class pictures, how am I going to pay for their field trips, stuff like that. If there was a way, training for jobs, just a way to get out of this."
"Habitat for Humanity is something I have looked into a little bit. We are kind of proud people, and to have everybody around knowing that our house was built by Habitat for Humanity; it’s kind of embarrassing. That’s one of my downfalls. I wouldn’t want the whole world to know. When I was growing up, I got made fun of because my family was poor, and I wouldn’t want to put my children in that position because it was hard. I go home crying a lot. I didn’t have a lot of things when I was a kid. So, everything we do, we butter that up for our kids, kinda shelter them. My parents were always broke, they didn’t have the money. People found out I was poor, and it was a big deal for people. So, I grew up having a sheltering feeling for my kids and don’t want them to know we are struggling. I wouldn’t necessarily need a house just built for me. I would help out in a thing like that. We don’t let our kids know about finances."
Arthur and Amy's Story
September 2009
Amy and Arthur both were previously married and each has grown children. Amy has grandchildren. Arthur has a college education and has worked in a health profession, but is no longer able to work because of a chronic health problem. Amy completed the tenth grade and has worked as a certified nursing assistant and in restaurants. She has significant health and dental problems.
When asked about strengths, both immediately said that they have a place to live and a car. Very little else is going well for them. Their challenges primarily lie with health issues. Amy is on medical assistance, but it is quite limited. A Vietnam War veteran, Arthur has been preapproved for veterans’ benefits and is waiting to receive them. He has applied for SSI as well.
While Amy and Arthur have a place to live now, they have encountered problems with the Housing Authority and are afraid that their horrible experience with "the system," especially the local one, may result in their having to live in their car. They’re angry about their situation – "we’ve both worked and paid taxes." They have felt "dehumanized" by "too many service workers who see their job, not the people they are helping."
Amy and Arthur live in a neighboring community and state that it is a friendly place, mostly peaceful, with no traffic noise. Neighbors were supportive when one of their parents died. They used to live in Oshkosh, and their major concerns with the city related to transportation and disability issues. For example, they have had problems with cab drivers who expected them to walk on icy driveway. They would like to see more activities for people with disabilities. In general, they see limited awareness of/concern for disability and aging issues.
Amy and Arthur have two goals – fair health services and to be assured of a place to live.
Amy and Arthur are knowledgeable about and access a number of community resources – pantries, the VA, the Housing Authority, the Red Cross, the St. Vincent store, the Salvation Army – and they have been on a waiting list for social services for three years. While they appreciate the assistance they have received, they think it could have been timelier and more effective. They also shared that they frequently were "made to feel like beggars."
Carole's Story
September 2009
Carole is a middle-aged woman with grown children and several grandchildren. She returned to Oshkosh many years ago as a divorced single parent. She has struggled financially and continues to do so even though her children are on their own. They are not in positions to help her, however, she has good relationships with them and enjoys spending time with her grandchildren.
Carole has a college degree but has had serious medical conditions that interfered with the type of work she was performing. Assisted by the Department of Vocational Rehabilitation, she trained for the position she holds now. She works as a certified nursing assistant in a long-term care facility. Her hours were cut recently.
Carole is careful with her money, but she doesn’t earn enough to cover her expenses. She sold her house and is "renting reasonably," though she does not have a garage, and her car has 150,000 miles on it.
Carole has a passion for art. She would like to have more time for her artwork. She loves the outdoors and bikes for recreation. She has good friends and a strong affiliation with her church community. Finances are a constant stressor for Carole. She would like to share housing costs with someone but hasn’t found someone with whom that would work.
There are important advantages to living in this area for Carole, especially the close proximity of her family. She loves the four seasons, as well as the lower cost of living than she had experienced when she lived in another area of the country. She is extremely disheartened, though, with the lack of racial tolerance (she’s White) she observes here and says she is "pained to hear what people say about the Hmong and African Americans." She believes there was a gap in her children’s education for sensitivity to the immigrant experience and also that there was "athletic prejudice" in the high schools in the 1990s. She explained that "athletic prejudice" referred to hypocrisy and inequities in discipline for athletes and non-athletes.
Carole doesn’t have specific goals for the future and would be interested in information or examples of what others have done, but she would like to be able to retire eventually, spend more time with her grandchildren, and be an active community volunteer.
The community resources Carole uses most are the pantry and resale shops. She states that the pantry allows her to have money for her rent, medications, and other needs. She could use help with housing and is looking into lower-cost housing.
Carole returned to the subject of tolerance at the end of the interview and said she’d like to help in any community efforts to increase tolerance and racial understanding in this area.
Quotes from Elizabeth
September 2009
On Overall Family Situation:
"I live with my parents, my mom and dad, and my sister is living here as well, and my daughter is 5 years old and goes to Head Start. I am getting a divorce from my husband. We couldn’t find jobs, we wouldn’t have money all the time and we both had two different views on how things should be. It’s better off now, he is in Indiana and I am here. He wanted to do construction here in Oshkosh and surrounding areas, but it was hard to find it and he has a sister that lives in Indiana and she said they have work there. He left and doesn’t want to come back. My entire family is here and I don’t want to go and move there. It’s a challenge going through the divorce and getting my daughter to understand what is going on because she thinks Daddy left because of her. And also worrying about I am with my parents and they struggle financially and there are two more people in the house. So, it’s a handful. They make it pay check to pay check. But, for the most part, all our needs are met."
On Food:
"I apply for food stamps. They only give it for me and my daughter, $300 a month, which is not much for five of us. They say my dad makes too much, but if you put everything together and all your bills add up together, it makes it a little bit harder, and they don’t take everything into consideration. My dad has had five heart attacks, and every week he has to have so much medication. Even though he has insurance, it’s still a lot of money out of pocket. He has to eat different food, and it costs money. I don’t think they take everything into consideration. We have well water, it’s been tested, so we have to buy water. We boil a lot of water and use for cooking, but then you take all that into consideration. It’s just $300 in food stamps. That’s the state guidelines, it’s not just Oshkosh. It would be nice to get the assistance."
On Health Care:
"I can handle medical needs through Medical Assistance, but dental not so much because there is only one dentist in the area in Appleton and it’s a 35-minute drive. It would be nice to have something closer. I have an appointment for my daughter who is in Head Start. With Head Start, they will bus us there, but it still takes a long time. But if you are not involved in the Head Start program, and you need to have this assistance, it’s a lot of trouble getting up there. Medical and dental assistance, they are God’s gift right now, they do really help. I don’t know what I would do without Medical Assistance."
On Divorce and Child Support:
"I am going through the Christine Ann Center for my divorce. But I have to wait to file until March. And I have to file taxes with my husband, and I don’t want to do that. But their divorce program doesn’t start till November. It’s $200 to file for divorce. It’s expensive. The Christine Ann Center does a program where they start every couple of months and the next one starts November 9th, and they will help pay for all of it. But if I file taxes with my “ex,” they will take all of my tax refund because he owes back child support. I cannot file separately even though we are not together. So, I want to be divorced before January so I can file on my own and not worry about him. My daughter is not biologically his, so he doesn’t pay me any child support. And the real dad doesn’t pay me either, so either way I am not getting anything from either one of them. I guess if there is something that they can change about Oshkosh, probably it would be harsher penalties for not paying child support. My daughter’s dad has been back and forth to jail. I think in the five years, I have seen $700 in child support. If Oshkosh can crack down and do something about it, that would be nice. He has court-ordered child support. He will find a job and work for two weeks and find out they are taking child support. Then he quits his job. So, it’s a hassle. He goes to jail and laughs it off."
On Education:
"I have a high school education and just enrolled going back to school and start on Monday. I’m going for Medical Assistant and it’s a 16-month program and after that I will be going for my nursing degree at UWO. I have always been interested in that and I didn’t have the best grades in high school, so I couldn’t go straight from high school to college to UWO and I was having my daughter. I was 7 ½ months pregnant when I graduated from high school. The online university is little money, and it’s an easy way for me to go to school at the moment. If I was to do the tech program for Medical Assistant, I would have out of pocket expenses for everything until I could actually get enrolled for the degree they have there. I don’t have that kind of money to pay until then, so this is why I am going a different route to get my medical assistant and then apply for the nursing degree at UWO. That will all be covered by financial aid."
On Employment:
"I worked at Biolife for almost a year and got my Plebotomy certificate, and so I have experience with that. They trained me on the spot. It was a lot of book reading and then they put you on the floor and use a dummy and they put you out there. That’s the best way to learn, though, and get over your fear that way. I have had other jobs, but that’s the biggest one I had. When I had my daughter, I stayed home with my parents, and they are good to me and don’t want me to work if I want to be with her. So, I have had odd and end jobs like Kwik Trip and Subway."
On Life Goals:
"To get back on our feet and not live with my parents forever. And for my daughter, just try and get her through everything. It’s been very hard on her and trying to get her to understand that my husband is not coming back."
Kathy's Story
November 2009
Kathy lived in a neighboring state until moving to Southern Winnebago County with her husband thirteen years ago. She worked as a waitress for 43 years, beginning at age 14. She has a high school diploma and some post high school education. She now works four half-days a week at a grocery store. Her husband also works, but neither receives any benefits from their employers. Kathy sees some unemployed people as not willing to settle for low-paying jobs. "Swallow your pride," she says.
Besides her husband, Kathy has adult stepchildren, siblings, and many nieces and nephews, but she has equally strong relationships with her neighbors and their children. Not having her own children, she says, these children are extremely important to her – "they’re part of my family." She appreciates the quiet, slow paced, friendly environment in which she lives.
Kathy and her husband live in a 40 year-old mobile home on which they would like to build an addition. She enumerates the costs of building permits and requirements for variances. "The county makes it hard for people to improve themselves. The rules and regulations are too much." Kathy and her husband would like to find a way to purchase a new manufactured home.
Kathy says that she and her husband are "living on the edge." Kathy suffers from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). "I don’t know what I’d do without these guys," she says of the clinic staff. Her husband also has health concerns; they have no health or life insurance.
Kathy and her husband haven’t used community resources other than the clinic and the "Well Women" program. She says, "I don’t need or want anymore." She does not like "the attitude of government workers – at all levels." She says, "Look at all those empty buildings – why can’t the people living in parks or cars live there? It makes me sick, especially the kids."
Quotes from Ken
October 2009
On Poverty Lifestyle:
"It gives you time to talk and brings your family together doing stuff like other than jump in the car and run to the store. And obviously it takes longer, so you spend time together. And we also dropped our cable, so now we have family night. We don’t have a computer that the kids have to be on. We do have a computer, but no Internet."
On Food:
"She went to the food pantry yesterday. And she was showing me all the stuff, and it’s all chips and crackers, granola bars, soda, and I was, 'Did you get no meat? No vegetables?'"
"There were the kind of chips that nobody wants, spicy jalapenos chips or something. It seems like it’s the food that doesn’t sell well, so we will give it to the food pantry."
"Another thing that would be nice in town if restaurants one night a week would have free food to the homeless or for people in need. Get the restaurants to help, because they make food."
On Housing/Utilities:
"Unless the resident has been there for five years, but they have to change the carpeting if the resident moves out. We believe the carpet was supposed to be gone anyway. And then there was a fire before we moved in and our apartment had the roof missing on it for, I guess, a few months. The rain and sleet already started to mold the walls and floors and carpet."
On Health Care:
"Even with our situation, she was getting Medical Assistance for the children, and I wasn’t. I am still not. To me, that doesn’t make any sense. We are a family living in the same household."
"In our situation, I don’t get insurance. It don’t make sense."
"Another thing to improve in Oshkosh would be counseling paid for by the county. I lived in Green Lake County when I was going through Drug and Alcohol Treatment. Because I was low income, I didn’t pay anything for about three years. Then I moved to Oshkosh, and there was no help for me at all. So, I had to either pay for the counseling on my own or job volunteered. So, I think if they had what Green Lake County had, pay for counseling, not just drug and alcohol, but any kind of counseling."
On Transportation/Insurance:
"We use the vouchers to get to the grocery store and back and forth from church."
On Education:
"I graduated high school two years late, but I graduated. I lost my hearing, and in the 8th grade, my parents got a divorce, and then my sister and I both failed 8th grade."
On Employment:
"After high school I was a meat cutter for a while. Then I moved to Watertown. I was a machinist the whole time, for about 10 years. After the divorce, I went to truck driving school, and I drove truck till 2001, then I became a welder ever since."
On Life Goals:
"Furthering our education. She wants to do a business course so she can run this business, and I want education in the counseling field and work with people who have drug problems. I have been an addict for 20 years, so I have experiences I want to use. There will be drug addicts coming into this system, so I want to help minister to these people."
Marian's Story
Marian is an 80 year-old woman who visits the community pantry, although she is uncomfortable doing so. She has five children and many grandchildren. Her children help her as much as they’re able, but Marian can’t depend completely on them; besides, she is used to being independent. Her daughters call her every day and help her with transportation and errands.
Marian has health issues that cause her to tire easily. She has had part of one lung was removed, and she had to stop working after the surgery. She currently sees a physician for "a blood problem." Marian tries to eat well, takes vitamins, and rests when she needs to. "When I get tired and out of breath, I lay down," she said.
In addition to her blood problem, Marian has had a frustrating and expensive year because of necessary dental work. She pays $70 each month on her dentist’s bill, and her rent was recently increased. "I really have no excess – so many bills."
Marian was born in the South. She attended school through the tenth grade and married young. She divorced her abusive husband after many years. She and her daughters moved to Oshkosh 16 years ago from a large mid-western city. Although health issues and financial problems complicate life for Marian, she feels safe in Oshkosh. "I like its quietness. It’s a nice, beautiful place to live. I can be at peace. In Oshkosh, if you call (the police), they come and try to take care of the problem." Marian also appreciates the resources available in this community. "You can have some help if you need it," she said.
Marian talks cautiously about her experiences as an African American in Oshkosh. "Even though there are many good hearted, honest black people, whites are afraid. If you pay attention to people when you meet them, you’ll be able to tell how they are." Marian has had many years of observing people and adjusting her expectations of them. "Some black people don’t feel like they should try to talk to whites because their feelings could get hurt."
Church is Marian’s primary community involvement. She loves the people in the congregation. Marian reads her Bible as well as other books. "I don’t worry about fun things – I wasn’t raised to do fun things." She is at peace with God, her family, and herself, although she would love to have a job if she could still work. "The extra money would help."
Quotes from Rhonda
October 2009
On Overall Family Situation:
"Right now we have three young children who are eight, seven, and five, and we also have two adult children we live with and one of them has her own child living with us as well. I have eight children and Ken has three children, but we don’t have any children together. He is raising my children. His children are 14, 16, and 18 and live with their mother. I have three adult children who are living off on their own."
On Poverty Lifestyle:
"It’s terrible to have little kids and well, we don’t have any milk, well, let’s go cash our weekly checks in, and we have to go out five miles to the grocery store and do it in the snow. And so, we take the sled. I don’t know how many people have said to us, 'I remember you, you have the sled.'"
"We don’t have any shows that we watch, so we have basic cable."
On Food:
"The Food Share program is huge for us because if we didn’t have that, we don’t have an alternative. At the food pantries they have toiletries and things like that. One thing that irritates me with the food pantry is that most of the food they serve in there is not healthy food. You want your children to be healthy, so you are kinda contradicting yourself when it comes to that. If we have to promote exercise, you also need to have the right food. Just because I have lower income and I need your assistance with food, that doesn’t mean I can have a candy bar and you can have fruit. Bottled Lipton tea has 65 milligrams of sodium."
"They just give you food and I got one can of green beans."
"It sounds good they are helping people out, and I am not knocking they are giving this food away, but there has to be good, nutritious food. We have switched from white flour to wheat and we are trying to switch our diet as well. Head Start promotes healthy eating. You can’t make anything at home, like cupcakes, and bring it in to share as treats, and they try to keep families on that track. But when they leave Head Start, they go back to Father Carr’s to stay and there is no nutritional value about most of the stuff they serve because they are serving in mass quantities. As a kitchen manager at Salvation Army, I know soups are huge, they are better for you."
"Well, Red’s Pizza, they always call different places to see if they can donate pasta that was left over or some pizzas."
On Housing/Utilities:
"Yes, we do have the electric assistance. We have been on that because our electric bill has been high from when I had the stroke and he wasn’t able to work. We accrued a huge bill. We still owe $1,000. I try and do what I can to get the resources that we need. They get funds every year in October. They get funds for people who need assistance, so they pay so much, and then you have to pay the rest, sometimes more than what your bill is, but you can use it during the winter months. At the electric company, our bill is about $200 a month. We were given a grant last year that would allow us to pay $50 a month. We pay them, so they don’t disconnect the service."
"Another struggle is we don’t have great credit, so we have to rent from whoever will rent to you. We were renting from somebody and they don’t take care of their property and they are quick to sue you for anything. I have made it kind of like my mission to bring this to people’s attention. When they take us to court, I show up and I have representation. They will refer you to Legal Aid if they can’t handle something and refer you to a better lawyer who go on a contingency basis. Let’s say the landlord had to clean your apartment; it was $105. They would say, like for us, when we had all the flooding, our apartment was damaged. Water poured in through our air conditioner and molded the carpeting, then I had a stroke. Then when we moved from the apartment into this house, they tried to sue us for the carpeting in their apartment because there were stains in the carpet. But the carpeting was damaged by the flood and mold, and it was over 10 years old. We believe they have to change carpeting every five years, that’s mandatory."
"They didn’t change the carpet when it rained in there; they kept the same carpeting. They knew there were problems and the carpeting wasn’t replaced. And they wanted to charge us over $1400 for this carpeting. And I can tell you, the apartment itself, the living and dining room was the size of this room and two small bedrooms and the bathroom was little, so $1400 was excessive. They wanted to sue us for the carpeting, so I went to Legal Aid because I said, ‘How can they sue me for carpeting when it was damaged by the flooding?’ So then I called FEMA and they took pictures and FEMA helped us out. We go to trial October 19th. They are suing me for the carpeting."
"Anywhere in the U.S. the father cannot stay with the family in a shelter because they lose their funding. They get so much funding for single Moms that come in and then they get another funding for men. But they don’t get funding for complete families. So, I think that’s ridiculous. Now we have more men staying home with the children, and because of that, we have more women leaving the family, and fathers have nowhere to go. You can’t go to the Christine Ann Center; they are not allowed even if they are homeless. They can’t go to Father Carr’s or any other facility to stay because there is not mother figure to take care of children and the family unit. I am working with Advocap and the Salvation Army has been supportive of it (my program to help families find housing) because the Salvation Army is the only place that will house whole families in a hotel for a month. That’s what we are running into, a lot of families, because they can’t stay together in shelters, they go to motels and stay because they cannot stay together. They go to different places for feeding, like the kids to go school and they eat at school. The parents are out looking for jobs, working with job service, disabilities, whatever. Then when kids come from school, they go to Salvation Army and eat, or at Father Carr’s, but they can’t stay together. It’s very sad. A lot of the children that come to Head Start are in that type of situation. We have been very fortunate. I have lived in a van with all my children. If we got enough money, we could stay at a hotel for a week."
"At one point somebody we knew was moving out from a trailer home, and she couldn’t afford to have it hauled out of the park. So she went to the people who owned the property and she would sign the trailer over to me and she did. But we couldn’t live there because the trailer was too old, and they were going to pull it out of the park and scrap it. I didn’t have the money to move it, so I was homeless."
"My idea is to get some of the trailers from the trailer parks that they are going to scrap and Advocap said they will help refurbish that for people to live in. All I need is land. I am not the best speller, and I have memory loss, but I am trying to write a business plan (for my nonprofit business on housing for homeless families). I have talked to a lot of people and have also written to Congress about it. And they said if I can get it going in Wisconsin, I can take it nationwide to help out."
"Part of my story is that I was in a housing program for more than two homeless families and we had jobs and we paid for rent and things like that. And they refurbished the motel, and this church came in and redid the rooms, bought all the stuff for the rooms. But, when they painted the walls, they didn’t seal the walls. And from living in that place, my children got MRSA (a staph infection) because people would use that as a crack motel and they were smoking meth (methadone) in there. Five years after you smoke meth in a room, you can go and test the walls, and it will still be positive for meth. If children touch it, put their hands in their mouths, it can cause different diseases. And my kids got MRSA. For homeless people, it’s really inexpensive to make your own drugs."
"I know in town the Town Motel is the only place where the whole family can all live. The shelters don’t allow families and people are turned off by that. And we can sit and say on the news or classrooms, ‘Oh, you should sit down with the family and have dinner.’ Well, what happens if your housing doesn’t allow that? And so you are really not promoting family togetherness, but family breaking up and Dads having to pay child support. To me, the system is hypocritical of what they really want done. When I suggested I was going to open this program, one of the things that was said to me was, ‘Are you going to make sure you are going to be available for single moms and their kids?’ Well, there are resources for single moms and kids. There are no resources for single dads and kids. I know about three gentlemen where the women just walked out. I know one gentleman who has five kids all under the age of eight and the wife walked out because she couldn’t handle it. They had no resources. The mother worked and he stayed home with the kids."
On Health Care:
"We struggle a bit. We take advantage of the Food Share program and Medical Assistance, otherwise, we would not have gotten through this (recovery from the stroke) because it’s very expensive to have all the testing done, so it’s been very helpful. I had to have speech therapy because I couldn’t talk properly, physical, and occupational therapy. I have tried very hard to make my speech not noticeable. I don’t want anybody to feel sorry for me, and I want to be strong for the children. Whatever I do, I do it for the kids. It’s just an everyday thing that you go through and the very few resources out there that recognize what difficulties are, so you have to do it by yourself. The stroke was caused by an allergy to mold."
"That’s another problem I have with the health care system for Badger Care. The men don’t qualify for the state type programs that women do. So, what happens if I am a father, I am single, and don’t get health care benefits. If I was a woman, this would all be paid."
On Transportation/Insurance:
"He is the only one working right now, and I do receive child support and unemployment, but a lot of our struggle is, say our car breaks down. We don’t have money in the bank to fix it. We have to wait a couple of weeks to get the parts that’s needed. We can’t take the car to a garage to get it fixed. We have to do it on our own because it’s too expensive, also gas money [is expensive], he works in Berlin. We have been on a budget plan for everything because we cannot afford more than $50 for other things. And when I had a stroke, I took out a loan against the car, and we are still paying that back. It’s been a long process. I think the transit system is messed up. The YMCA offers a lot of programs for people and to promote healthiness, what we need to do, but I feel they are lacking with that. The bus doesn’t run late enough for people that work second shift, and it also doesn’t go to some of the places that people need to go to. If you wanted to go to the 20th Street YMCA, which is the newer one, the bus doesn’t even go close to there. They people that live on the south side of town, they have no way to get there if they don’t have a car, unless they walk, and that is quite a ways out to walk. I noticed that the buses now allow you to put your bike in the front of the bus, and you can ride your bike from wherever you get off, which they should have done a long time ago, but that’s a good start."
"There are so many people that can’t get first shift jobs, especially low income families. The first job you are going to be offered is most likely going to be second shift. If not second shift, it’s going to be third shift. If you have a way to get there in there evening, if they ran the bus for people who get off work at 11, then if you are working third shift, then you have to be there at that time. And then the bus starts after 6 in the morning. It is inconvenient that the bus only runs from 6 a.m. until 6 p.m. The last bus doesn’t even go to all the destinations."
"One of the programs that Oshkosh has is the taxi, at the ARC building. You get vouchers for the taxi to take you to and from work. So that’s a good program. You go in there and talk to them and see if they will be able to help you with the vouchers. I know for a little while last year, they didn’t have any vouchers because they didn’t have enough funding."
"They have different programs for different things at the ARC building. Like you can get on the low income budget thing and it’s like $2 to ride in a cab to where you need to go. To go from here to Walmart is $20 in a cab."
On Divorce and Child Support:
"My ex-husband works in the Army and they make sure it’s [child support] taken care of. As a matter of fact, when I had the stroke last year, the child support was the only income we had for almost a year. It was $750 a month for 5-7 people. We paid $725 in rent. We were getting food stamps, so that helped with food."
On Education:
"I dropped out of high school in 9th grade, and I just got my GED this May. I dropped out of high school because I was pregnant, and then I got married and stayed at home with the child and worked a job while my husband went to school to get his high school diploma so he could get a better job. I just got my GED this year, but I have been working on it for the last five years. If people know you are working on it, then it’s more acceptable when you apply for jobs, that shows you are trying to better yourself. I was having a hard time. I was doing the GED itself and not the HSED, and it’s very, very hard. You can go through the Fox Valley campus and Advocap offers adult education, that’s where I went."
"I am thinking I will definitely want to do it, go to Fox Valley Tech for Business Management, because I don’t want to get into this [nonprofit housing program] and not have any kind of background with business. For this, I really want to know the laws and liability laws and everything about what I am going to do. I don’t care if it takes me into the next 20 years, it’s going to happen. Wisconsin is the only state that don’t have any laws mandating mold issues, like it’s okay for us to live with mold in this state. There are some laws, but they are minimal laws. One of the things about the Oshkosh area is there are more children and young adults that have brain tumors versus the whole U.S. For some reason, in this area, in Oshkosh, we have high rates of brain tumors and neurological problems. In fact, I had the stroke because of the mold, and it’s ridiculous that the government knows there are all these issues with mold, and it’s dangerous to your health, but we have no laws to mandate it."
On Employment:
"I have been a CNA. I have been an Assistant Manager at a gas station. I have been a Kitchen Manager for the Salvation Army. I have my Food Handlers certificate for food management. Basically, I can be a chef in a restaurant. I have worked in delis, and I was the Kitchen Manager at Salvation Army. Basically, I can be a manager for food handling. I have been unemployed for almost a year, and am just getting child support. I had a stroke of July last year and I had another stroke this July. I have some neurological problems, some memory loss. I have some problems with my whole right side of the body. I have applied for disability. I get unemployment because I lost my job at Walmart due to the stroke. They didn’t have a position, but the thing I could work at, they would not offer it to me. I worked at the deli in Walmart. I could have been a door greeter after the stroke. I knew I was not going to be able to run the slicer. It was a right hand slicer. I can barely pick up a gallon of milk and pour it today."
On Life Goals:
"I am trying to open my own non-profit to help homeless families because in our shelters the father can’t stay with their children or wives."
"I am working with Advocap. I just have to write a business plan, and they go over it."
"One of the projects I want my children to do is make blankets for all the people coming into the program because that’s a big thing, and clean clothes. I know from experience, if you don’t have enough blankets and you have to curl up together to keep warm, it’s really hard, and you have no personal space."
Robert and Jane's Story
November 2009
Robert is an Oshkosh native and graduate of UW-Oshkosh who has been unemployed for some time. Jane has a debilitating heart condition and is unable to work. They also care for a grandchild. Robert has had several jobs, one lasting over ten years. When that position was moved to Milwaukee, they chose to stay here in order to be near his elderly mother. He found another job but was laid off shortly afterward. "You can’t fight it," he says. He receives unemployment compensation and doesn’t see much hope for finding another job at his age.
Robert and Jane have a strong marriage and appreciate the time they have together. They have a large house, and they rent the upstairs to a formerly homeless couple. This helps with their mortgage payments. They have experienced a lack of communication with their mortgage company, however, and they struggle with "lots of red tape." They have learned to live within their means; growing vegetables to can and freeze has helped them to do that. They have accessed the Oshkosh Area Community Pantry and the Salvation Army, as well as the Community Clinic. Robert’s mother died recently, and the couple has not decided whether to stay in this area. They would like to live outside of town, but close to health care. "You got to have hope. It’s all you’ve got," they say. They just want to "get by."
Robert and Jane have strong opinions about life in Oshkosh. They point to the good quality of life here – there are lots of things to do, and many activities are free. They do think that Oshkosh could be more health conscious, especially with children. "Don’t take PE out of school," Jane says. They also see vision and dental care as unmet needs for many people.
"This place is a blessing," Jane says about the community clinic. "I think they are doing a wonderful job. Doctors are retired and giving back to the community. (The staff) is overwhelmed, but they do this out of the goodness of their hearts. They put their heart and soul into it."
Susan's Story
September 2009
Susan is in her early twenties, a single mother with a five year-old daughter. She receives minimal child support from the child’s father. Her mother and grandmother help as much as they can with general household supplies and clothing, and a cousin helps with babysitting. Susan is completing an associate degree this year at Fox Valley Technical College and hopes to transfer to UW-Oshkosh to earn a bachelor’s degree. She held a minimum wage job until recently and has applied for unemployment compensation. She did seasonal work for a local company this year and had applied for another job with a fast food restaurant at the time of the interview.
One of Susan’s personal strengths is that she tries very hard to overcome obstacles in her life. She also is bright, articulate, and resourceful. She finds it difficult to walk into the community pantry but does so because of her daughter. She is determined to achieve her educational goals and become self-sufficient.
Except for some residual effects of a car accident, Susan is healthy. She has Badger Care health insurance. She is able to deal adequately with creditors, as she understands the way financial institutions work and knows how to obtain accurate information.
One of the challenges Susan faces is that daycare centers require children to attend a minimum of ten hours per week. Susan cannot afford that but would like to utilize daycare to some extent. Finances are a major challenge in general.
Oshkosh has more opportunities than the small town in which Susan grew up. She appreciates its quietness and its good park system, which provides healthy and free entertainment for families. She notes that the school system is trying hard to provide district children with quality education. She would like to see Oshkosh residents spend money in the city’s small businesses so that there would be more employment opportunities here. Susan has some concerns about problems in some neighborhoods and would like to see the police department take on the "thugs" in town. She also would like to see more people volunteering in the community.
With regard to goals, Susan would like to be established in a job and a house within five years - "not to be stuck like this." Her dreams for her daughter include obtaining a good education and being able to follow "whatever dreams she wants to" without any obstacles in her way.
Susan utilizes a number of community resources. In addition to the food pantries, she speaks highly of Advocap programs, the Job Center, and Winnebago County Human Services. She finds a great deal of helpful information on the Internet, as well. She commented that the 211information system doesn’t seem as accessible as it could be and wonders if there might be a better way to get it out to those who could benefit from it. Susan’s biggest unmet need at the time of the interview was the long wait for unemployment compensation to begin. Not having that or a steady job is, of course, extremely stressful.
Tom's Story
November 2009
"I try not to dwell on the negatives, but sometimes they slap you in the face and you have to come back to reality."
Tom is an Oshkosh native in his 60s who had his own business at one time and also worked for a series of businesses, all of which closed. He moved to New York, where he had friends, but he wasn’t able to get more than a temporary job there. He eventually returned to Oshkosh to take care of his father, who had had a stroke. Tom did get a job here, but he lost that job after twelve years.
When asked about strengths or what’s going well right now, Tom said he is "eternally grateful" for the medical care he’s received from Affinity with Leona’s help. "Dr. Hughes is great." Tom has faced, and continues to deal with health as well as financial challenges. He has never had good health insurance, even when working. He has diabetes, a heart murmur, and recently suffered from a staph infection.
Tom lives in a small apartment over a store. Because his landlord appreciates his help with building maintenance, Tom hasn’t had problems with rent increases. He has a good social support system of friends and extended relatives. His father died several years ago. Tom seems resigned to the way his life is, although unemployment compensation would help. He visits the community pantry, which has "a nice array of things," and helps him to save on expenses. He buys only second hand goods.
With regard to ways in which life in Oshkosh could be improved, Tom says, "If the Chamber of Commerce tried to get people to open stores here, it would bring people to Oshkosh from other places. There are too many chain restaurants; they’re not good for you, and they’re expensive. The independent guy gets driven out of town."
