Danielle: An Immunocompromised Mother
Ever since emergency brain surgery put her life on hold two years ago, Danielle has been working hard to rebuild and take care of her daughter, Emma. She had to give up her job after her surgery impacted her health, and has been working part time jobs since. She had just been offered a well-paying, government job as a census worker in her home of Dayton, Ohio when the COVID crisis hit.
In quarantine, Danielle, who is immunocompromised, can’t be going door to door to ask census questions. She is also unable to drive for DoorDash, which she’s been doing for income ever since her surgery. After working so hard to get her feet back under her, Danielle is devastated. “With this quarantine status, since I have so little immunity and catch things easily, my doctor said to just sit at home completely...I just can’t risk myself, since I am a mom with a daughter who relies solely on me. I was just starting to get back up, and then this happened. It’s been hard,” said Danielle.
Danielle and Emma have access to food assistance and Medicaid, but even with government assistance their financial situation is extremely precarious. “I am more than grateful for those two alone, because if I couldn’t feed my daughter I don’t know what I’d do,” said Danielle. But their healthcare and food assistance doesn’t help with paying rent, and Danielle was afraid that she and her daughter would be evicted from their new apartment without any money coming in (they just moved a few months ago to a place with lower rent). Danielle would like to apply for unemployment, but the unemployment platform for self-employed individuals (like DoorDash drivers) isn’t fully set up in Ohio yet so she hasn’t been able to receive benefits.
The $500 cash disbursement from SaverLife came at just the right time — Danielle used the money to pay rent. “You saved us. You literally saved me and my daughter from being evicted. Thank you, from the bottom of my heart,” said Danielle.
Even though times are tough right now, especially with Emma trying to do third grade online with the family’s only computer, Danielle hasn’t stopped looking ahead. She has been searching for jobs, training programs and internships, especially government jobs that would have similar pay and benefits to the census job she was offered. She also wants to go back to school, first community college and then a four-year college. “I want to be able to get out of the house, to get my daughter back to a regular school schedule for the fall. I want to get back to normal life and daily routines, and be productive citizens again.”
