Tuesday, May 27, 2008

Final thoughts...



Kim Schaaf from Options shared her story as "closing thoughts". She was a single parent who was close to needing welfare (help) and received child care subsidies. That allowed her to get on her feet, go back to school, get a degree and a job. Now she is the Resource and Referral manager at Options and she has a beautiful son who is in college.

That is the story that we all want to hear and know that we can hear if we have help and supports. No one is asking for a hand-out. We just don't want to be disregarded. The state of California is mandated to help cover the costs of child care for working poor families transitioning off of welfare and into the work force. The state should also responsibly try and support working poor families who have never been on aid but need some help. People like to think of these families as lazy and undeserving. They are just the opposite. They are parents who have one, two, three jobs and who are struggling - not to buy a Bentley, but to buy bread and milk and shoes and jackets and books for their children. they want to work and they want to be a role model. They also, like many of us from time to time, need some help. And that is why we pay taxes - to help those who are less fortunate in order to get them where they need to be so that they can give back. And yet we are once again fighting to keep the Governor from kicking poor people (the majority of whom are children) off just about every kind of imaginable social service/health/education program there is. disgusting!!!

What is next for Community Voices? More meetings down in Los Angeles, maybe a rally or two. We need to keep this bus moving!!!

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