American Winter Page #3

to do to make it,

so you can donate plasma

every other day.

I like donating plasma less

than going scrapping.

You know, it's just something

that I do to make ends meet

and try to make sure

that we're not hungry

for too many days

out of the month.

I walked into

the house and she was sitting

in the kitchen in the dark and

I was like, "Mom, what's wrong?"

And, like, she was crying

because she just didn't know

what she was

going to do for food

for the next couple of weeks.

And, like, I just couldn't do

anything but hug her

and, like, tell her

that I was going to be OK.

People want to work.

You know, people just say to me

over and over on the phone,

"I want to work. I want a job.

I will do anything,

and I can't get one. "

They don't want

to live in poverty.

Are you kidding me?

Is that the electric bill?

- Let me see it.

- This is impo...

It's $1,200, T.J.

There's no way I can pay

$1,200 in two weeks, so

it's to keep

our lights on or...

or keep our house.

- Keep our lights on or keep our house?

- Mm-hmm.

I'm trying to work

12 to 13 hours a day

just to try to get

our house payment paid.

It's minimum wage.

I'm making $8.75

an hour.

I'm not making the money

to pay for our house,

you know, and he's

working his butt off

to try to find a job.

I can get a second job.

How can you get a second job?

I can't even find

a fricking job.

We got to do

something, T.J.

I try not to blame myself,

but I was the main provider

for so long, it's hard not to.

I wake up from night

terrors all the time.

I wake up screaming, crying.

My main thing is, is

I lose my kids 'cause

I can't make the money

to provide for them.

I literally could come

home and we could have

a 72-hour notice

on our door.

And at that point,

we have nowhere to go.

Do you want to go stand

on the street with a sign?

Oh, I don't know. I'm not

holding no fricking sign.

Yet.

A friend of mine had told me

that they had just fired,

like, 4 people.

And I said, "Well, I'm

interested in applying. "

This place, they paint cars.

It's not as much money

as I'm used to making.

I don't care, you know? Long as

there... get some more money

coming in and take some

of that weight off of Tara.

Thank you for calling 211.

Please press 1 for English.

My house payment's so

high that I have no money for food.

I've been pretty

much out of work for two and a half years.

We don't come up with the

money in 3 days, we got to get out.

I got 3 kids depending on us

to keep a roof over their heads.

My name is Bev.

- Hi.

- Hi.

And I'm going

to be taking you back

to get some food, and

you have a family of?

- 5.

- 5. OK.

Family of 5.

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