What's new

I recently visited with a few old friends this weekend from a Women's Leadership Conference I attended a couple of years ago. The theme of the evening was "So what's new with you?" and I was surprised with how many updates I had to report. Many of these you already know--I'm an AmeriCorps*VISTA, I train counselors on the Ohio Benefit Bank program, I live in poverty, blah blah blah. But there are a few recent changes (in no particular order) to my VISTA-ship that you might be interested in as well:

1) Taylor got a promotion!
That's right, Taylor passed his national EMT-Basic test and is now working as an EMT! He is staying with his current company and moving up to work on an actual ambulance with the other EMTs. With this promotion comes some changes. One, Taylor's hours have changed now from 5 A.M. to 6 P.M. on Monday, Wednesday and Friday. For all of you non-math folk out there, that's a 13-hour day, taking him up to just under 40 hours a week. Today was his first day, and I vaguely remember his shadow moving around the room at 3-something this morning. Poor guy!
With this new position, Taylor's pay will increase from $7.35 to $10.15 an hour. Double digits, baby! And do you want to know what my first thought was upon hearing this particular news?
"OH, well, we'll have to report this to JFS--I wonder how much this raise will reduce our food stamps?"

2) My car is messed up...kinda
After dropping my car off at the mechanic on Saturday, we got a call a few hours later that it was ready to be picked up. So before my grant-writing class, we drove over to pick up the car and hear the latest diagnosis. Turns out, one rear strut was worn out and the other was completely broken, both requiring total replacement. In fact, the parts were so old and grimy, that they had to be torched off. That's never a good sign. The mechanic took great pleasure in showing me just how messed up the old struts were. Then he ran down a laundry list of other repairs that he recommended, but my dad will be doing those on his own later this week (yes, another car switch is in order).

But here's the real news: the total repair cost $580, and guess what--my dad paid for all of it over the phone. What a relief to not have to drain our checking account with another round of bills coming up this week! Once again, without this supportive relationship with my parents, we would be where millions of people in poverty find themselves quite often--strapped for cash in the face of an emergency. That, or down one vehicle at a time when both of us need our cars to get to work.

So this is a big shout out/thank you to my dad--we will find a way to repay you for your generosity.

3) Jason DeParle of the New York Times is here RIGHT NOW!
Yes, as I write this, Jason is touring the Southwest Ohio countryside in search of info for his food stamp story for the NY Times. After his plane landed last night, Taylor and I met him at a Frisch's restaurant in Fairfield for a late dinner/dessert and chat. There we talked a little about our experiences in Fairfield so far, including Taylor's [involuntary] stint in poverty as a result of my commitment to AmeriCorps. We talked about the process of securing food stamps and some of the barriers that stand in the way of that process. We talked about the increase of food stamp usage around Ohio (and the country), especially in this conservative part of the state, and what that means. And we talked about the people who are eligible for food stamps but aren't receiving assistance for an assortment of reasons.

You'll have to read the story to get the full account. :)

This morning, Jason and Steve (a NY Times photographer) were here bright and early to meet Tina and SNAP Outreach. We'll be meeting them for dinner tonight at a BBQ place in Hamilton. And perhaps most excitedly (for this VISTA, anyway) Jason asked Alex and me for permission for the NY Times to link to our blogs! We said yes, of course.

4) Lastly, Gus has a Facebook page!
Today Alex, Gus, and I made another excursion to drop off 4 barrels for two food drives at two separate businesses. While we were out, we decided that we should make a fan page and profile for Gus on Facebook! There you can see Gus's interests, activities, even a schedule of Gus's upcoming appearances at area businesses. So if you're on Facebook, friend him here:
http://www.facebook.com/note.php?created&&suggest&note_id=293323450033#/profile.php?id=100000390326698&ref=profile