Pro 8 Exclusive: Hard economic times show us the different faces of struggle
By
Ray Gomez
Story Created:
Dec 5, 2009
Story Updated:
Dec 7, 2009
It’s a time of year we tend to spend a lot more as we try to spread some Christmas cheer, but with the local economy not giving us a glimmer of hope, many of us are finding it hard to spend the extra money we usually do this time of year.
Non-profits are running on empty, trying to satisfy the ever-growing demand.
Now, we're seeing local organizations step up more than ever simply trying to help all the different faces of the homeless.
When you think of a homeless person, most people think of panhandlers begging for money.
But that is not the case: we found one mother who has fallen hard, struggling to raise her kids as a single parent. “We just got into a position where the father of my kids was taking care of us and he's not able to help us at the moment, so we were almost living in my car and I filled out an application to come here, and we were very lucky to be chosen one of many, many people,” says Kawana McClure.
Being a college graduate, she never thought she'd end up here, and with her kids being four, five, and six years old they don’t really understand. She says, "it was quite traumatic for them at first because I got kicked out of my apartment that I lived in. We couldn't pay the bills and we were almost on the streets."
Another frequent face seen at the Bethany House is Jack Williams, who used to be a Laredo businessman until he got into some trouble, serving three years in prison. Now he takes each day one step at a time. “I come in here, and I eat, and I realize how lucky I am, because you can always find someone who is in a worse situation than you are," he says.
Proof this holiday season has people from all walks of life trying to make it through.
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mona said on Wednesday, Dec 9 at 10:02 AM
What hard economic times? pres. NO-bama says everything is rosy.
33365014oldnavy21 said on Monday, Dec 7 at 4:42 PM
I think city/county leaders should try to focus on ways to help out our homeless people. This is the season to giving & sharing. Most people I've spoken to seem to think that homeless people are persons without any type of morals or values & that indeed in all miscontrued information. We as people of society should know better that an economic dispair can occur to anyone, & yet some of us forget our roots & where we come from.
33258354Big O said on Sunday, Dec 6 at 4:02 PM
I think we should follow Obama's example of creating jobs for the jobless/homeless. We should start by hiring our local homeless to build floats for the WBCA. They have plenty of time, know the parade route intimately, and as a plus, most of them are legal citizens. "Laredo, rediscover the Flavor".
33202832Gary said on Saturday, Dec 5 at 9:14 PM
Let us give the homeless designer blankets, and designer bags. At least they will be nice to look at.And those camping out for wayne tickets, when you are done with the camping gear donate it to the homeless.
33171317Basic Human Dignity said on Saturday, Dec 5 at 6:55 PM
Let's give everyone a chance at basic human treatment. Laredo is filled with compassionate people. City leaders are being sent this message by the community. The media should seek to interview each councilperson and the city manager to see where they stand on the issues and what they are doing to address and mitigate the issues involved. I suspect many elected are hoping no one asks them, because they probably have not spent much time concerned about. In Laredo,Human care before all else.
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