The Roanoker - May/June 2021 - 31
As 2019 drew to a close, the economy was, by many standards, humming. The number of
people designated by the U.S. government to be living in poverty had declined to 10.5% of the
population. It was the lowest that statistic had fallen since the Census Bureau began tracking it
in 1959.
And yet, workers across the country didn't feel particularly flush. The numbers seemed off,
incomplete. According to federal guidelines, a family of four needed just $25,700 a year to get
by. Most everyone acknowledged no household could survive-much less thrive-on that little.
The United Way had known for awhile that real life wasn't matching the measurements.
More than a decade ago, the national nonprofit developed its own index to identify financial
hardship, one that took into account all the expenses a household required. In its assessment, a
whopping 42% of American families could not afford food and health care and rent in 2018.
Then came COVID-19.
The pandemic upended everything. Unemployment shot from 3.5% in February 2020 to 19%
in April. People lost healthcare, had no money for food, fell behind on rent.
But the coronavirus changed the conversation, too. If neighbors and small-business owners
and family friends were struggling, well, that could just as easily be us.
By the end of April last year, almost half of American adults had lost wages. Even those
lucky enough to have kept their jobs, their health, their homes, felt the possibility that it all
might disappear in a shut-down order or a hospitalization.
" The pandemic exposed realities that were already there, " says Abby Verdillo Hamilton,
CEO of the United Way of Roanoke Valley. " Before, you might not have had a savings account
or transportation.... Last year, it just got worse. "
Where would any of us be if a diagnosis left us disabled for months? If we were fired? Once
our unemployment ran out? What would we do if we could no longer pay our mortgage? Or we
totaled the car and didn't have the savings or credit standing to replace it?
We'd be stressed. We'd be fighting depression. We'd be looking for whatever way forward was
available to us. Just like Amanda Shepherd and Deoncoe Hilton and Linda Sisco.
After a year when all of us felt shaken, following new legislation that has built a safety net
for families stronger than any program since the 1930s, the old categories of " us " versus " them, "
of " haves " versus " have-nots " are blurring.
TheRoanoker.com
MAY/JUNE 2021 31
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The Roanoker - May/June 2021
Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of The Roanoker - May/June 2021
The Roanoker - May/June 2021 - Cover1
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The Roanoker - May/June 2021 - Cover3
The Roanoker - May/June 2021 - Cover4
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