“My wife Bridget and I both lost our jobs in 2007,” said Queens resident Ed W. “We are middle-class people and nothing like this had ever happened to us before. It was impossible to make ends meet. We had two children to provide for and were totally panicked.”

Ed had worked for 15 years at a technology company specializing in hyperbaric medicine. “There were only four people doing what I did in the entire country,” he said. “No hope of getting another job in that field.

Thankfully, my wife got a job at an electrical workers union a month after I was let go. But the job only paid $14 an hour, not enough to meet our expenses.”

Ms. W.’s parents let them use their old car so Ed could hunt for work. “But that turned out to be very costly,” he said. “We spent $1600 on repairs. We had to use our rent money to keep the car going and started to fall badly behind.” Then Ed’s landlord sent eviction notices. “The marshal came, we were out on the
street. Homeless and sleeping in the car.”

In the courts, the family was fortunately referred to The Bridge Fund. Our case worker secured funds from the Human Resources Administration, and The Bridge Fund loan brought their rent up-to-date. “We had been evicted on Monday and the case worker had us back in our apartment on Friday!”

Ed is now employed part-time at a telecommunications firm. “Things are looking so much better now,” Ed said. “We are both working, our rent is up-to-date and we have applied for food stamps. We are also repaying the loans from HRA and The Bridge Fund.”