Kendall on the challenges of Christmas parties. “They tell me that they wish they could just sleep the month of December away. It’s not because they don’t like Christmas, it’s because of all the things like this, that become complicated just because you are poor.”
Kendall sits down for coffee with Susan Leblanc, MLA for Dartmouth North. They discuss poverty, isolation, the EI clawbacks, and the benefits of a 24/7 drop-in centre.
Kendall Worth shows once again how what most people would consider simple problems are often almost insurmountable obstacles for people on income assistance. Poverty, stigma and isolation make many things much more complicated.
Our correspondent Kendall Worth attended one of the welfare transformation meetings organized by Community Services, and he came back disappointed.
Kendall Worth catches up with a young woman who lives in Beaver Bank and finds out how the bus pass has improved her life.
Kendall Worth writes about questions Dartmouth North MLA Susan Leblanc raised about EI clawbacks for people on Income Assistance. It’s a topic dear to Kendall’s heart as he knows several people who experienced this.
Community Services will pay for the cab for a person who is getting released from day surgery if the person cannot take the bus home. But finding someone to accompany you home who the hospital approves of is sometimes difficult, Kendall Worth reports.
Kendall accompanies four friends who go shopping for Thanksgiving dinner. “I guess you can say that this story, along with my recent Thanksgiving story, show the amazing efforts people living in poverty sometimes make to keep themselves out of social isolation,” Kendall writes.
Poverty advocate Kendall Worth asks his friends and acquaintances about being grateful despite all the problems poverty brings. He gets some amazing responses, and learns how people are teaming up to support one another.
One of the many hard things about having to depend on social assistance is the stigma. People often assume you’re lazy, even though invisible disabilities stop you from working. The other day poverty advocate Kendall Worth talked with one such person, who got verbally attacked by her fellow passengers on the bus.