Wanda

A new chapter begins

I first met Wanda, one of Held’s first guaranteed income recipients, in a classroom at Triad Goodwill the day before her fifty-third birthday.

During her intake and orientation, she told Held’s Participant Support Specialist, Tobi, and I that she had worked at the hospital for 20 years. After a shoulder injury led to rotator cuff surgery, she could no longer complete many of the physical tasks her job required, and the hospital let her go.

With the help of her career navigator at Goodwill, she had enrolled in courses at the local community college hoping to gain skills that could lead to better employment. She said she got to campus most days around 7 am and stayed until the afternoon either attending classes or spending time in the library studying.

When I gave her the card on which we’d load the $833 per month that Held would provide her, she asked, “Can I use this to pay my car registration?” She said she needed to make sure her car was in good shape to keep getting to class.

Wanda also told us about her daughter in her twenties. Every time she brings her up she immediately says that she had a stroke when she was born. With her mother out of work, she’d taken on a job to try to help pay the bills.

Taking the next steps

Wanda had received guaranteed income for six months when she and I spoke on the phone. I just called to get an update. She told me she had just gotten a job with a home healthcare provider, and despite delays remained hopeful that a car manufacturer expanding operations in the area would hire her based on completion of her courses at the community college.

She’s not in the clear (are any of us ever?), but things are looking up, and she’s hoping to take on new clients with her current job.

Small setbacks, big problems, new solutions

A few months ago, Wanda’s oven had broken. Unable to afford a full replacement, she used the income provided by Held to purchase a Ninja air fryer and toaster oven to serve as a substitute.

As I thought about her purchase, I began to think about how many people end up in a financial bind because of something as simple as a broken oven. Perhaps the oven breaks so they have to eat out more often until they get it fixed. Now they’re spending more on food with each meal. Then they fall behind on bills. They can’t afford their phone bill for the month which means they’re unable to call out for work when they get sick. Now they’ve lost their job.

Those that work with people struggling financially know that these kind of small expenses can add up quickly. How many of us think about a broken oven having such potentially drastic consequences for a job and the ability to provide for ourselves and our family?

Stability, hope, and the good food

But even without the potential employment consequences, it’s simply good that Wanda can prepare meals at home or purchase the food she wants, even if it never matters to her job or employment. Wanda told me that with the extra $833 per month, she’s felt more comfortable purchasing healthy food, fruits, and vegetables for her and her daughter. “Mom, you can get the good food now,” she told Wanda.

When talking about the food she could now buy, Wanda told me she had some produce in her car when she left Goodwill recently. She saw some people outside a local homeless shelter across the street asking for something to eat and so she gave them some of what she had.

Wanda, like most of us, wants to help others, and she like all of us, has needed others to do so.