Local woman hit hard by economy, ends up homeless

[OhioChick]

03:44 PM EST on Sunday, November 23, 2008

(WHAS11) -It’s still dark out when Terri Perez turns on the lights to get to her locker and start her day.

She works Monday through Friday from 4 a.m. to 12:30, cleaning the dining room area at Wayside Christian Mission.

It’s a full time job, but not one Terri ever thought she’d have.

That’s because the cleaning job is reserved for people who live at Wayside.

Terri Perez is homeless.

“Never in my wildest dreams did I think I would end up in a place like this,” admits Perez.

She ended up at Wayside a few months ago after a series of unfortunate events.

First, she was laid off.

She explains, “The company that I worked for was outsourcing a lot of their work to India. They in fact, in the past year, had several stages of layoffs and got rid of more than half of their workforce.”

After being laid off, Perez got sick and ended up in the hospital twice.

She did everything she could to pay her mortgage and medical bills, but she still went bankrupt.

Perez lost her home, her car, and the possessions she collected throughout her life, including pictures of her husband who died ten years ago.

“I actually had a storage facility, but all that’s gone now I’m sure. I just couldn’t keep up the payment on it,” she says.

Now, all she has left are memories of a life very different than the one she lives now.

Nina Moseley, Wayside’s CEO, says stories like Terri’s are becoming more common as the economy declines.

She explains, “There are as many reasons for homelessness as there are people in the shelter, but unfortunately a good portion of them are folks that are really victims of the economy or what’s going on in the community…It seems to be that folks are in much worse shape than they were a few years ago, and we get more and more stories of folks coming in that had good jobs, good paying jobs.”

But as companies outsource jobs overseas, move away, or just shut down, those good paying jobs disappear.

Philip Mangano, executive director of the US Interagency Council on Homelessness says homeless populations are growing across the US.

“Around the country we’re seeing both people who are victims of the mortgage foreclosure crisis as well as folks who have lost their jobs. They’re starting to appear at the doors of homeless shelters throughout the country,” says Mangano.

Perez is just one of those people.

She says she’s trying to rebuild her life, but it’s tough.

For the jobs that are out there, she thinks living in a homeless shelter puts her at a disadvantage.

“A lot of people have the impression that all homeless people are drug addicts, riff raff... that’s just not true. It’s good people, things that have happened in their lives like myself to end up in some place like this,” explains Perez.

It’s a place where she now spends her days cleaning the dining room, watching TV in the common room, reading in a bunk bed at night, and turning off the lights. Then the next day, she will do it all over again.


http://www.whas11.com/topstories/stories/whas11_topstories_081122_HomelessWoman.1dfbe948f.html

I'm sure this is the tip of the iceberg, unfortunately. :(

[soulcore]

1. Thank God it passed!

But seriously, this is what is coming for a majority of us in the next ten years.

But we're too busy to notice, see there's a bunch of CEOs with a gun to our collective head, demanding we keep funding their lavish lifestyles or else the sky will fall...

[peacetalksforall]

2. Out sourcing. How can we fight it? Can we protest by not buying services and products

of these countries. I am on a mission to avoid these companies. I know it can hurt employees who are still with them in the U.S.- but this outsourcing must be reversed.

Second - something has to be done about not just getting insurance, but the unholy costs.

Something must be done about all these corporations registering out of the country to get around laws and being able to hide money.

We have to make sure the Obama fights and stops every theft of our money and possessions, including our vote.

We must take responsibility for the ownership of the banks that was thrown at us and wake up, get smart, not trust that everything is being done to take care of the citizens.

[Azlady]

3. Change.gov is a start

Change.gov is Obama/Biden website until he takes office Jan 20. Voice your concern over the outsourcing of our jobs overseas and the failing/failed Worker Visa Programs, corporations have found loopholes in these programs and bring in cheaper workers from all over the world.

I agree with the insurance. I had an accident on Thursday that I should have gone to the Doc or the hospital for, but instead purchased antibiotic cream, Advil & butterfly stitches, friends stayed by my side for 12 hours, as it was a head injury.... I have no health insurance, jobless, hardly making ends meet, no way could I go to the hospital or a Doc's office. There is something wrong with this picture.

Obama has said this isn't going to be easy, we are in a big mess, People are going to have role up their sleeves and help him and alerting him to these issues. Geez it is like all of us that are products of the 60's... we need, we MUST reorganize and start marching and protesting again over these issues so no other woman, man, child must be homeless because of the past 8 years. Geez, I have no kids,, but I do not want to pass over this country to our youth in the current condition it is in.

Perhaps we need to start a group here for research of companies that all their workers and mfging are in the USA. I was shocked when I called on an Amana appliance I have, under warranty and it was messing up... figured I would get someone from out of the country,but SHOCK they were in Tenn, all of their call centers arein the United States, also Whirlpool. So there is at least one company. I asked to speak with Management and thanked them that they have not outsourced.

This woman was successful, hard working and lost her job to outsourcing, my heart goes out to her, we need to fight for her, and others that are victims to loss of job, outsourcing and worker visa programs..

We need to remember something... we can not assume that someone else is taking care of it, as when we ass-u-me nothing happens. Call/write/email Obama/ our Reps... nonstop.

Sorry to preach
Azlady

[OhioChick]

7. Preach away, Azlady!

Nothing will change if we don't let our elected officials know that we're not happy. :thumbsup:

I'm sorry to hear about your accident. I hope you're okay. :hug:

[awoke_in_2003]

16. Medical costs are outrageous...

I have insurance, luckily. I hurt my finger at work and had to go to the ER. I got 5 stitches, guaze and tape, and an advil. Cost to me, $50. Cost to the insurance company, $2500!!! Unfuckingreal.

[MadMaddie]

4. When you start talking about curbing outsourcing people will

scream that's isolationist.

I believe we have to save America before we save other countries. We have to raise Tariffs on imported goods, other countries are getting a free ride.

[OhioChick]

5. Raising tariffs, closing loopholes is a start. n/t

[Azlady]

6. It is high time we start taking care of our own...

So love your post...Thanks MadMaddie

[flygal]

10. Medical cost will bring more and more people into this situation

It still boggles my mind Americans still think what they have is better than universal coverage. Why gamble on your livlihood like that.

[OhioChick]

11. You're right.

I'll have to look up and find the stats, but I read recently (before the financial crisis) that the #1 reason for bankruptcy was medical bills.

[awoke_in_2003]

17. It might be isolationist...

but we need some of that right now. This country was at one time able to produce everything it needed, we ought to give it a try again. And yes, I will give up my iPod Touch (i would only cry a little) if that is what it would take to have a healthy middle class again.

[arikara]

8. We rarely buy new clothes...

but we picked up a couple of shirts for the Mr yesterday, and there was nothing that was made in Canada, US or even Mexico. Most were from China, a few from Bangladesh. So its becoming impossible to boycott slave labour merchandise and we do try.

They have totally decimated our factories through outsourcing.

[bertman]

19. Our little building company is buying only made-in-America shirts, t-shirts, sweatshirts,

jackets for our employees. And last year we went to union made.

Before that we had a local screen-printing company do it all, which made us feel good because it was local. Then we started noticing that all of their products were made in Malaysia or Guatemala or somewhere other than the U.S. We live in an area that used to be heavily into textile production but that industry is now dead and thousands of workers have been laid off due to exported jobs. So we decided to support American clothing manufacturers. It took a bit of looking on the internet, but we contacted them and placed our orders and have been very pleased with the quality and service--AND PRICE.

Now we are trying to buy green building products that are locally or regionally grown. We're still working on that but have been able to get quite a few and will add more to the list as time goes by.

So, it's possible to buy American and be a good consumer and a patriot at the same time.

Spelling edit.

[OhioChick]

20. Good for your company!

I applaud them. :applause:

Too bad we don't hear of more companies doing what yours is.

[ihavenobias]

9. Thanks for posting this.

Tough to hear but important.

[northernlights]

12. Obama has said over and over...

he will stop giving tax breaks to companies that outsource jobs.

He will start giving tax incentives to companies that keep jobs here/bring them back home.

It's that simple. It must be reversed.

[OhioChick]

13. Let's hope that Obama keeps his word. n/t

[sarcasmo]

14. Family. No brothers, Sisters? Parents? I don't get his country.

[OhioChick]

15. Sounds like she's alone. n/t

[awoke_in_2003]

18. Maybe they are in similar situations.

Maybe she is too proud. Maybe she was disowned. Lots of possible dynamics when it comes to family.

[sarcasmo]

21. One of the big problems with this country. I would never let either of my two sisters be homeless.