OUT OF WORK

March 18, 2020, Wednesday

Listening to the San Francisco public radio call-in programs this morning, it made me realize how many people are now out of work and how many small businesses are in danger of shutting down permanently. People were asking about unemployment benefits and various temporary economic relief programs. It’s a jungle out there with local, county, state, federal, non-profit, and community programs --- all too much for me to sort out and I wondered if the people who need this help made any more sense of it than I did.

When this plague ends --- in a year or two --- the greatest negative effect will not be the deaths from the illness although that is achingly sad. It will be the economic dislocation; probably a deep recession.

How can individuals help? There are many community groups and non-profits that help people in financial need. So contribute to those that are local and that you know do good work. But what about all the people who are going to fall through the cracks? I’ll pay my cleaning lady for the duration even if she can’t come in to clean. Our church congregation is supporting several Honduran asylum seekers. Many of their low-wage jobs --- house cleaning, restaurant work, construction --- will go away and the congregation will probably be able to support them.

If you’re planning to contribute to a person or group of people, or an organization, let us know what you’re doing. We need good ideas, and we all need to help  as much as we can.

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