Ground Hog

 Wow. I just can't get away from the ground hog.  Here is a ground hog made from homemade salt, pepper and sage ground hog from our local butcher. I have a 1/4 of a steer being processed but they took the employees for a winter getaway last weekend and it is taking a few extra days to get to me. We ran out last night since I did such a good job clearing the freezer and I picked up a few things. 

I stayed up late and made some chocolate chocolate chip mini muffin groundhogs to celebrate, too. They were a hit! 

When I worked in an office, I would organize potluck lunches with a Groovy Groundhogs Day theme. Then I would invite my family over for a Groovy Groundhog Dinner. I had a file of themed recipes. 

Now I just make a few breakfast items for the bus kids. Must be getting old. 

These darn kids keep passing germs around. I have had a least one school kid home all week. Today a mom stayed home to see if she could get one into the doctor and got a call from the school about kid number 2.  Meanwhile, two preschoolers and another "sick" school kid have completely taken over the living room and constructed a fort. 

It was a rough week at my volunteer job.  We had two families seeking help and I am calling it immigration week.  We are a rural community. That said, we had a woman come in who is married with 2 teenaged children born in this country.  Her mother has cancer.  Her husband, who has been here since he was a young child, was recently deported. Because he worked here without a permit, he has zero path to apply to ever come back into the country or be with his family who are citizens. He had worked for over 20 years at this job and supported the family. Now mom is trying to move her mom in to take care of her while trying to find full time employment to support the household alone. 

The second family, a little younger, has a citizen who married a man who came here at 6 months old and who has a work permit.  He has been working with a lawyer for many years to try to establish a path to citizenship. He has to pay $1500 (this is to the government and in addition to the lawyer on retainer) every two years for the permit and apply 6 months before it expires. Unfortunately it can take 6-12 months for a new permit. And that is where they are again. His permit has expired, the new permit has not arrived and he has to sit home not working for up to six months and hope it shows up. Luckily his employer is willing to hold his job. Mom is trying to pick up extra shifts to pay the bills and had even put some money aside in anticipation of a late work permit.  Then her father died unexpectedly and tragically and she had to pay for a minimal funeral.  They have two small children, also born in this country. 

We periodically get these cases of people who paid the money, sent in the renewal on time and then have six months with no paycheck.  

There has to be a better solution for honest, hard working people.  I have no idea what it is but surely some smart person can come up with something. 

Then my last client (after 2 more horrible stories) was a young man who just turned 30. He came up here with a family member seeking a better job. He has a job nights loading semi's for a big produce dealer And has worked there for a few months. The problem is housing.  There is zero affordable housing in my area, apartment rents are astronomical and there are no openings. His employer lets him sleep in his car in their parking lot during the day, but he is exhausted and is having trouble sleeping 1. in a car, 2. in broad daylight in a car, 3. in a his car in a noisy parking lot full of trucks.  He was almost in tears.  

It was challenging because all I can tell him is that he is doing everything right and the situation is wrong. He tried a hotel but they took extra money and he had to call the police to get reimbursed. And if he stays there, he can't afford to buy food.   He was already aware of something I just learned - that if you go to our city recreation center, they will let the homeless take a shower in an old locker room at the back of the facility. This is a word of mouth kind of thing with our mayor's blessing. I spent lots of time talking with him, trying to come up with places he could call for help, not sure if they can help. He did calm down and was so grateful.  At Christmas I bought a ton of $10 gift cards to area fast food places for prizes in games at family Christmas and I did give him two, one for a pizza and one for Subway. He was so grateful.  I also talked to him about just being upfront. If you go to a food bank, say you are living in your car temporarily. A box of mac and cheese won't help. Neither will things that need refrigerated. It isn't their first rodeo and they can find food stuffs that you can use.  He is one of those cases that haunts me. He has no one here.  I do have a phone number and can call him from the church on Monday and check in on him. 

We have a "metro" office that qualifies people and issues vouchers for free or reduced housing. Unfortunately, that doesn't create housing. In December almost 100 local metro vouchers for my county expired because the families could not find an available apartments. Then they have to reapply, all the paperwork needs redone and then they have another 90 days to try to find one.  Actually a lot of landlords have turned our rentals into Airbnb places that generate a lot more income than a rental.  I don't know the answers, I am just venting.  

The week before I had a woman who walked 3 miles on a 19 degree day to come to my office and fill out an application to help with the deposit for a metro apartment they found (she is 40's , disabled, a niece who is 20 and has 2 small children). She was frozen.  I let her warm up, charged her phone, gave her coffee and then gave her my hat and gloves when she left.  I was in the middle of too much to give her a ride, so I made her a map home and marked stores, the library, the police station - places where she could go inside and warm up.  We were able to help her move in the new apartment - it's a 2 bedroom and they were hoping for 3 (impossible) but they are just so grateful to have a place of their own.  She almost cried telling me about begging people to stay on their couches or use their bathrooms. And as nice as some people can be, you always feel horrible about it. 

I don't know if I mentioned I have joined the county homeless task force as a member from my agency. I attended one meeting and I am mostly there to gather information.  We have no homeless shelters or anywhere that they can stay in our county.  We are near two entertainment areas - a NHRA sanctioned racetrack and an amusement park and our hotels and motels are expensive and booked. 

ANYWAY - Thanks for letting me get that off my chest. Have a great weekend!