They manage to pay their bills—as long as their 10-year old car doesn’t need work, or one of the kids doesn’t get sick.
United Way of the Battle Creek and Kalamazoo region shaped a set of fictional profiles—based on their real data—of the type of hard-working families who can’t pay for basic necessities in today’s economy. Like “Sasha and Davis:”
Davis earns $40,000 a year as a long-haul truck driver. Sasha stays home alone with their two children, ages 1 and 3, while Davis is on the road. Sasha had to quit her job at the coffee shop because child care costs were more than she earned. They manage to pay their bills—as long as their 10-year-old car doesn’t need work, or one of the kids doesn’t get sick. When their rent went up $20 a month, they had to cut their already small food budget to avoid being evicted.