Kendall Worth: “You may think it a bit weird for me to talk about Christmas in October but many people on social assistance are already starting to develop a bit of anxiety thinking about how they are going to prepare for Christmas this year.”
Kendall Worth: “We shouldn’t have to depend on an income assistance system with lots of obstacles for people who live with visible and invisible disabilities.”
Kendall Worth: “Fewer family thanksgiving dinners means that this year for many people Thanksgiving is going to be full of all-around sadness.” But there is also a bright side.
Kendall Worth: Meet Jennifer, Donna, Tafiba, and Michelle , who have two things in common. They are interested in wanting to get back into the workforce and they have applied for a zillion jobs over these past couple of years and it seems that no one will hire them.
Kendall Worth writes about the challenges for people on income assistance with part time jobs. They were told to get off assistance and on to CERB, and ever since it’s been a rocky road.
For Rose, who Kendall Worth introduced us to earlier, will have to apply for income assistance because her parents are only able to pay her rent for two more years due to their health going downhill and her father recently retiring.
Kendall Worth: it is safe to say that 80% of income assistance recipients live a life of loneliness and social isolation. Many do not have good relationships with their families, and many of them do not even talk to their families. COVID-19 made this so much more worse, but we can do something about it.
Kendall visits Progressive Conservative Party MLA Steve Craig in Lower Sackville, to find out about poverty in that area and discuss mental health issues that affect people on income assistance.
Sarah is 38 years old. She has lived with a learning disability her whole life and when she got older was diagnosed with OCD, mild anxiety disorder and Asperger. She has $315 left after rent, special diet and telephone is paid. That is $315 to pay her power bill and get groceries that are not covered in the special diet allowance.
Joanne Bernard wants to be the new premier of Nova Scotia. “Many people on income assistance, including myself, lost respect for her within weeks of her getting appointed as the Minister of Community Services,” writes Kendall Worth.