Abused Swan 

 

 

 

 Anna K

Works 40 hours per week at $10.00 an hour.

She makes $400 per week.

x 4 weeks.

$1600.00 per month

- $400.00 for taxes

-$800 for child support

She lives on $400.00 a month!

With the new law that has employers automatically signing children up on the non custodial parent's  health plan, Anna will pay almost $700 a month for health insurance.

Anna will be living on a negative $300 a month!

This $300 a month will add to her arrearages.

Once the arrearages reach $10,000     

Anna can be put in jail and receive a felony charge!

 

These women were stay at home moms who volunteered at there children's school and helped with fund raisers and taking children to sports and other after school events. These women get divorced from abusive husbands and then go through a court battle where they all the sudden, are incompetent, crazy, or abusive mothers. They go from taking care of their children to being the reason for all the problems in the court case. Anna's former spouse claimed the oldest and youngest child on his taxes in 2007. The divorce papers states Anna is to claim the children. The money would have went for the back child support. Anna has filed a motion twice and twice Judge Gardner has denied the motion and refuses to hear the issue.

Go to Honorable Patricia Gardner to find out more.         Darlene B Works 40 hours per week at $10.00 an hour She makes $400 per week. x 4 weeks. $1600.00 per month -$400 for taxes - $400. for child support -$225 for health insurance w/children She live on $575.00 a month or $6,900 per year!                                        Sign The Guest Book                                  And leave us your comments!                                         Mother On A Mission                   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K4TI8J1vkUY

 

 

Thanksgiving And The Homeless

Tuesday, November 21, 2006

Writer unknown.

How many of us have passed a homeless person and thought to themselves, "what did they do to cause their situation?" How many of us have thought "there but for the grace of God go I?"

Have you ever known a homeless person? Maybe you did and didn't realize it. You also might know someone who is on the verge of desperation and hopelessness and will become homeless.

I know such a person. I met Debra in an AOL chat room. Debra was a wonderful, intelligent woman who went from having a good life to having it all taken away. She became a homeless person. She has found a way out and has given me permission to tell her story.

The story of “Riches to Rags,” said Debra Kowalcyk as she sat down and began telling her story of unexpectedly slipping into homelessness.

With a once comfortable middle-class life as a recent memory, Deb found herself struggling to stay off the street after a series of life-altering events sent her family and all she and her husband had worked for spiraling out of control.

Debra met her husband while both were working at Buick City in Flint MI. John S Kowalcyk was Vietnam Veteran having worked on Guam repairing B52’s as an electrician. Before that he had worked on the Apollo flights and the lunar land rover. “He could fix what ever it was I broke” she said laughing.” I knew then I “HAD” to keep this guy. They were married in October of 1985 and when Deb found she was expecting their first child in September of 1986, she quit working. Although this first pregnancy resulted in a miscarriage, Deb gave birth with “My Steven” by her side to two healthy daughters in 1989 and 1995. “There was no better place then in his arms; nothing was more wonderful then just watching him hold our daughters in them.”

Unfortunately, her life was about to change significantly, 11 days short of 14 years of marriage in 1999. Her husband and the nucleus of the family suffered a heart attack during a medical procedure.

Deb struggled to keep the family intact and fill the void for her girls all the while battling her own mental anguish. Since she had been out of the workforce for some time, Deb found it difficult to reconnect and soon exhausted the resources she and her husband had built during their time together.

Selling their home of 17 yrs, Debra relocated to Hudsonville in West Michigan in 2003 searching for a better place to raise her daughters and possibly find work. Meanwhile, the issues of single parenthood began to take its toll and eventually she became embroiled in a battle with Child and Family services. She made steps to demonstrate that she would provide a stable environment for her daughters by successfully graduating from Medical Assistant training with the thought that this would lead to a more secure position with benefits and giving her nights and weekends with her children. Although she tried to remedy the situation, the decision was made to terminate her parental rights causing Debra to sink further into depression and ultimately fall into homelessness in June 2005.

With her husbands small Gm pension, Debra began facing daily struggles of finding a place to sleep and food to eat. Her family offered no support so in order to obtain help she relocated to the Grand Rapids area where resources were somewhat more available. She began cycling through the agencies in the Grand Rapid’s Heartside Neighborhood, a mecca for the homeless and destitute in the area. She found a bed to sleep on at a local shelter and a couple meals a day when lines weren’t too long. She found solace through the Catholic Information Center where priests gave spiritual and moral support, but uncertainty became daily life. To take control she needed help and the courage to ask and ask again.

Even at her lowest point Deb persevered, hopeful that she might find the solution to lift herself out of disparity. She heard on the street that Section 8 Voucher applications were going to be issued at a local agency where she also learned information about Genesis Non-Profit Housing Corporation.

Genesis was expanding to further meet its mission to provide a unique type of affordable housing for low-income special needs persons that would be permanent and independent. Deb heard the buzz surrounding the HUD-funded expansion at Genesis’ new location - Kingsbury Place Apartments.

Genesis began taking applications for Kingsbury the following week. “They open the door at 9 am. I was there at 7:30 am and was 4th in line.” At first review was rejected based on some back payments owed to utility companies. She appealed their decision and with the help of Genesis staff, she resolved her previous debt and cleared the way for her approval.

Kingsbury is a truly unique development. Adopting Genesis’ approach to affordable housing, coupled with enhanced 24-hour support services for residents and a Green building design garnering the development the first grant from the Michigan Green Communities program make Kingsbury one of a kind. The Green design incorporates numerous energy management and environmentally friendly features that lower residents’ utility costs and provide a clean living environment to disabled residents who often have more reactions to pollutants and environmental contaminants.

As for Debra - “This (Kingsbury) is where I belong, this is home!” Kingsbury has once again given her a place to call her own, a sense of confidence, and the ability to look into the future. With her housing issues resolved, there are prospects of a new job, friends and community ahead. There is also the daily prayer of hope, that one day her daughters will be a part of her life and future as well.

As you sit around your Thanksgiving table giving thanks for family, friends, and all your blessings, please remember Debra and those in similar situations in your prayers. Give thanks for all the thousands of non-profit and religious organizations that find ways to provide for the needy. Maybe today you can find in your heart a way to give of yourself to volunteer or support those organizations in your city, county or state so they can help others, like Debra find their way out of the darkness of poverty.