An Altogether Different Picture

„The View From Your Recession” (The Daily Dish)

A reader writes:

I work for a small municipality that serves 40,000 people. As our fiscal year restarted in October we had about 10 jobs open up, ranging from Public Works ($12/hr) to policeman/woman ($42k/yr) to Jailer ($15/hr) to PD Dispatch ($14.50/hr). These aren’t high paying jobs, though benefits are included. I am here to tell you that I have never, in my 10 years here, seen so many people come in to apply for a job. We are getting ALL types of people, most of whom I know have a zero chance of getting hired just by the looks of them (I know, a bit judgmental, but believe me, it’s that obvious). Every day HR is processing gobs of applications. An HR rep just told me they have gotten about 400 apps for the 10 positions that have been open since October 1. And 80% of them won’t even qualify for consideration, based on a municipalities stricter hiring guidelines.

„Health Professionals See Spike In Men Committing Suicide”(WBNS-10TV)

COLUMBUS, Ohio — Some experts said they are seeing an increase in men committing or attempting suicide, 10TV’s Tanisha Mallett reported.

A conversation volunteers have with callers at North Central Mental Health Services is one they said they have more often with men.

It is one that Rick Baumann started having  after his son, Gabe, tried to kill himself.

„I was a volunteer for about 16 years and accumulated about 5,000 hours talking to suicidal people when in 2007, on March 25, my son took his life,” said Baumann.

Baumann, now the assistant coordinator of suicide prevention services at North Central, closed his own business and started working fulltime in the suicide prevention field, Mallett reported.

Lately, the staff  has noticed more of the calls they receive come from men, Baumann said.

„I think men who have never been in a situation where they have had to reach out for help are feeling pretty hopeless and don’t know where to turn,” said North Central’s coordinator, Mary Brennen-Hofmann.

In 2008, the Franklin County coroner’s office ruled 140 deaths as suicide – 113 of them were men.

Of the cases the office ruled on so far this year, 121 have been ruled as suicide – and 95 of those have been men, Mallett reported.

Counselors said many men are overwhelmed by the current economic situation.

„Losing your job is a difficult thing for someone who is the head of the household, the bread winner, the primary income,” Brennen-Hofmann said.

Baumann is determined to help, one conversation at a time.

„We’re hope salesmen, we sell hope and all you have to do is make one sale and you’ve got a fix and that’s what works for me,” Baumann said.

„Grandmother Sells Fruit to Cover Medical Costs” (New American Media)

A 76-year-old fruit peddler works the streets of South Los Angeles to meet medical expenses, maintain a sense of purpose, and help her family through tough times. She’s made some friends along the way, too.

Doña Blanca Alvarez, a courageous woman working through hard times, sells fruits and vegetables on the streets of South Los Angeles.

Neither the cold nor the economic crisis discourage 76-year-old Blanca Alvarez from going out each day to push her cart over the streets of South Los Angeles, selling fruits and vegetables to customers who have been acquaintances and friends.

Alvarez pushes the cart to make enough money to pay for the medicines and vitamins she needs more and more as she ages. Anything extra goes to the expenses of the household she shares with some of her children and grandchildren. There’s more, too, because this immigrant from Michoacan, Mexico, says that her little business makes her feel like a productive person even though she lives with her children.

„I go around selling tomatoes, cilantro, onions, strawberries, mangos, bananas, melons — anything I can find when I go to the [wholesale produce] market at Olympic at Central,” she says with a smile. „I do it to help myself a little bit, because I get sick frequently and I need the money to buy my medicines, because they’re very expensive now and I only have emergency care.”

Alvarez says that three years ago she had a gastric ulcer that burst, and soon needed $600 worth of medicines. Then she found it would cost more to stay on the diet suggested by doctors who treated the condition.

„With the money I earn from these fruits and vegetables I can buy myself the medicines and vitamins I need to take care of all my ailments like the pains in my back and legs, among others,” she says. „In addition, I’m left with a little extra money to buy other personal items I need, and even to help a little bit with the household food expenses.”

Alvarez says she does not want to be totally dependent on her children, who take care of paying the rent. She says she chips in to pay for utilities and water because it makes her feel good about herself.

„At this time, we’re in a very serious and difficult economic crisis, and any help at home is good,” Alvarez says. „And since I’m always sick, with this I can help myself and avoid feeling like a burden for my children, because they have their own responsibilities, since they’re married and have children.”

„Vermont Church Selling Tiffany Window to Stay Open” (Associated Press)

BRATTLEBORO, Vt. — For almost 100 years, the multicolored image of St. John the Divine has gazed down from a stained glass window in the choir loft of First Baptist Church.

„When you see the sunlight coming through it on a Sunday morning, it’s just spectacular,” said church member Karen Davis, 59.

Now, the value of the window — a Tiffany original — may be too much to bear.

Strapped for cash because of declining donations, attendance and collection-plate revenues, church leaders voted recently to seek bids and sell the 9-foot tall window, using the proceeds to sustain the church and a wintertime homeless shelter it runs in its fellowship room.

Church leaders are torn by the prospect of losing the window, but resolute in believing that if that’s what it takes to keep the church and shelter open, it’s the right thing to do. They’re down to their last $8,000.

„No one wants to see this Tiffany go,” said the Rev. Suzanne Andrews, the pastor. „But when it came down to the question of do we sell the Tiffany to keep our doors open for the ministry of God, then the decision became quite clear to all of us, that this Tiffany window — as beautiful as it is — is a material thing.”

Churches of all denominations have been hit by the recession, and have responded in various ways.

„Probably the largest thing churches have done is terminated positions, frozen salaries, reduced benefits and some have even stopped making retirement benefit payments,” said Phill Martin, deputy CEO for the National Association of Church Business Administration.

„Most churches, like this one, are more concerned about maintaining their ministry and their involvement in the community than they are about their own specific needs about buildings and staff,” said Martin.

But he said the First Baptist Church’s plan to sell the window is the most extreme measure he’s heard about.

The cavernous, 19th-century stone building, whose 140-foot spire rises above thes southern Vermont town, is struggling with rising expenses and falling revenues. Last year, it cost $34,000 just to heat the place, and roof repairs are needed.

But the 88-member congregation’s attendance at Sunday services has dropped to about 35 people in recent years.

Hoping to cut costs, the church’s trustees voted last February to make Andrews a part-time minister and to lay off sexton George Goulet, Now, some of the homeless men who flock to the church to stay warm — the program runs from Thanksgiving to spring — clean the toilets and vacuum the red carpeting.

Last month the trustees voted 20-4 to take bids on the window.

The decision was wrenching.

„In Some Cities, This Christmas Comes Without Tree” (Associated Press)

FRESNO, Calif. — It’s beginning to look a lot like … any other day.

In some cities and towns across America, tight budgets have become a cruel Grinch, forcing drastic cutbacks in the municipal holiday displays and celebrations that people have enjoyed for generations.

The second Christmas since the financial meltdown is coming without the ribbons, holly, wreaths and bows. It’s coming without lights, decorated lamp posts and parades. Trees with all the trimmings have either been shrunken down or eliminated entirely.

„It’s just so sad. Why not put a little holiday spirit into us?” said Joan Wilson, a part-time receptionist, bemoaning the decision in Fresno to forgo the rite of December in which thousands of residents gather for the lighting of a six-story tree freshly cut from the nearby Sierra Nevada mountains.

The decision to call off the ceremony was just the latest disappointment for an impoverished region already battered by drought, recession and the housing crisis. Fresno’s unemployment is nearly 16 percent, almost 6 percentage points higher than the national average.

But after city layoffs and the prospect of a $28 million budget shortfall, spending public time and money on a tree would only cause more financial hardship.

„We’re trying to be good fiscal stewards,” Fresno spokesman Randy Reed said. „We have to use our resources more appropriately.”

Makes clear to me that at least one demographic is getting hit hard, the working poor.