Local Parent Laid Off for New Year
Donation protected
We are a family of three. My son Simeon will be eleven this summer and my daugher Laila will be five in February. I am a thirty-six year old working mother who moved back to the Seacoast area four years ago to be close to extended family, and a part of a tight knit community.
Raising children alone is not ideal, but I am very aware that the example I set for my children is even more important when they have only me to look to on a daily basis. Working nights, weekends, overtime and compromises in my professional life are part of that. (I think that most parents understand this balance whether or not they are alone.)
Most of my professional years have been spent in the service industry. This has allowed me to have schedule flexibility and also to work many of the hours that my children sleep. This fall, with both of my children attending school/ full time preschool, I accepted a full time position with a great local company, allowing me to finally aquire health insurance. This is huge for us.
My son has a seizure condition that I had been paying out of pocket to diagnose and monitor. Additionally, I can now monitor my stress-induced heart condition that unexpectedly required surgery last spring. With these two concerns and the already cripling medical debt that I now have, the decision to accept the new postition was an easy one. Because the starting salary of my new job was not enough to sustain our household, I continued to work part time in the restaurant where I had been employed since it opened 3 1/2 years ago.
I was taken completely by surprise on January 2nd, when after dropping my kids off with the sitter and clocking in for my normal saturday double-shift, I was unceremoniously 'let go'. I had been part of the opening staff and was one of four training servers, wine trainer and (I thought) a valued employee. It's still just hard to believe. I do not know what decision process went into taking the job that provided almost half of our household income with no warning or infraction. It's hard not to take this as a personal slight. More palpably, I'm overwhelmed by the prospect of a job search during the worst time of year to be unemployed on the Seacoast. I know that on some level it is good to be away from a workplace that cared so little about a loyal, long term employee, but that doesn't change the reality of the crisis that creates for us financially.
Please consider helping us during this transition! I am scrambling to find a new part time job that I can work around my new full time position - and (if possible) replace the income that I would have earned. In the mean time, our household and childcare expenses are ongoing. I desperately do not want to tell my four year old daughter that she will not be going back to her preschool, or have to cancel our newly aquired health insurance.
I have a great deal of faith that our community will understand and help. This area is filled with hard-working people who do understand the pressures of supporting family - and how difficult it is to ask for help when in spite of everything, your best is not sufficient. Any and all help is greatly appreciated.
Raising children alone is not ideal, but I am very aware that the example I set for my children is even more important when they have only me to look to on a daily basis. Working nights, weekends, overtime and compromises in my professional life are part of that. (I think that most parents understand this balance whether or not they are alone.)
Most of my professional years have been spent in the service industry. This has allowed me to have schedule flexibility and also to work many of the hours that my children sleep. This fall, with both of my children attending school/ full time preschool, I accepted a full time position with a great local company, allowing me to finally aquire health insurance. This is huge for us.
My son has a seizure condition that I had been paying out of pocket to diagnose and monitor. Additionally, I can now monitor my stress-induced heart condition that unexpectedly required surgery last spring. With these two concerns and the already cripling medical debt that I now have, the decision to accept the new postition was an easy one. Because the starting salary of my new job was not enough to sustain our household, I continued to work part time in the restaurant where I had been employed since it opened 3 1/2 years ago.
I was taken completely by surprise on January 2nd, when after dropping my kids off with the sitter and clocking in for my normal saturday double-shift, I was unceremoniously 'let go'. I had been part of the opening staff and was one of four training servers, wine trainer and (I thought) a valued employee. It's still just hard to believe. I do not know what decision process went into taking the job that provided almost half of our household income with no warning or infraction. It's hard not to take this as a personal slight. More palpably, I'm overwhelmed by the prospect of a job search during the worst time of year to be unemployed on the Seacoast. I know that on some level it is good to be away from a workplace that cared so little about a loyal, long term employee, but that doesn't change the reality of the crisis that creates for us financially.
Please consider helping us during this transition! I am scrambling to find a new part time job that I can work around my new full time position - and (if possible) replace the income that I would have earned. In the mean time, our household and childcare expenses are ongoing. I desperately do not want to tell my four year old daughter that she will not be going back to her preschool, or have to cancel our newly aquired health insurance.
I have a great deal of faith that our community will understand and help. This area is filled with hard-working people who do understand the pressures of supporting family - and how difficult it is to ask for help when in spite of everything, your best is not sufficient. Any and all help is greatly appreciated.
Organizer
Julia Hodges
Organizer
Portsmouth, NH