Are you part of the Middle Class Poor? We are. How did it happen? What are we doing about it? These are the two questions I will answer in this blog post.
I'd like to make a few points about being Middle Class Poor. We are not alone. The problem is increasing. The government plans to have less involvement in helping to solve this problem. For example, as illustrated in an article, Hunger is all around us, yet it doesn't have to be, http://liherald.com/stories/Hunger-is-all-around-us-yet-it-doesnt-have-to-be, author, Randi Shubin Dresner, President and CEO of Island Harvest http://www.IslandHarvest.org explains what is going on.
Her article starts with the following statement, "The recent vote by Congress to cut $40 billion from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program — the food stamp program known as SNAP — over the next 10 years is alarming. If these cuts become law, those who are already struggling to afford food will be thrust into further hardship, increasing hunger across America and right here on Long Island."
We are witnesses to the beginning of these cuts as our food stamps went from $367/month to $16/month. That is the 5% that the media has referred to. But not a 5% decrease, 5% of the previous monthly benefit.
Because the problem is increasing and the government will have less to do with solving it, we will have to find alternative resources to solve our problems ourselves. That is a big part of the reason for the title of this post and the creations of both a facebook page http://www.facebook.com/theMiddleClassPoor and a facebook 'suppport and resource' group, https://www.facebook.com/groups/Resources4MiddleClassPoor/.
For a moment, I would like to go back to the question, how did it happen? For us, the answer is simple, '2008'. In the same week, my husband was laid off from his job and the stock market crashed. The fallout from that led to my own crash, physically and emotionally. I was hospitalized and became unable to work.
Our lives have changed dramatically in these last five years since 2008. We had savings, we had security and we thought we had stability. The rug was completely pulled out from under us. We went from being middle class to being what is now considered part of 'The Middle Class Poor'.
The upside of having our lives turned upside down is that our new lives have brought us extraordinary challenges and opportunities to grow that we never imagined we would experience. Sometimes it has been terrifying. But the more we go through, the more miracles we have received and the stronger we have become. Most importantly, our fear has been replaced with faith.
Fast forward to 2013, my husband volunteers to help others and is also in school studying to become a professional in a helping field. I have gone completely wild applying my years of social media marketing studies to using social media as a communication tool. We wish to share our experience and to help others cope with these very serious, real life issues.
We are inspired to pass on to others what we are learning and what we have gained as we navigate through our new lives as part of 'The Middle Class Poor'. If you need resources and support, please use the facebook page and group mentioned above. We pray that the fruits of our labor can be of benefit to you.
