What if You Have No Job, No Money This Christmas?
What if You Have No Job, No Money This Christmas?
Here in the Philippines, having no money during Christmas is nothing new. In fact, having no money isn’t new at all. Jobs pay too little, no Christmas bonuses even. Living from paycheck to paycheck and finding odd jobs here and there is how most of us get by. Now it’s Christmas once again and people here don’t feel any qualms about its coming.
Religious, civic and social organizations are quite active in their Christmas activities. Schools enjoin their students to pool their resources for gift-giving projects among the poor in their areas. Canned goods, instant noodles, bags of rice and bags of candies can bring a lot of holiday cheer for the needy. Old clothes, old shoes and old toys can put the brightest of smiles to kids who hardly get the chance even to put on decent clothes. Politicians never miss this chance either to give something to their constituents, never mind if it came from their pork barrel funds. Celebrities and movie stars endear themselves to fans even more by being volunteer guests at Christmas programs held in orphanages, homes for the aged and correctional institutions. Television stations try to outdo themselves by reaching out far and wide, to the most remote of all remote places. So much love to give, so many people to give to; that is how people with no money get by during Christmas.
It is no different in the United States; the Christmas crunch is felt by thousands who are now jobless. Right in the net a lot of housewives posted their appeals for help. How they could give their children gifts for Christmas when they hardly even have the money to buy food for the table? There are letters from children whose fathers have abandoned them and whose mothers are too weary and heartbroken to even think about Christmas. Thousands left homeless and orphaned by Katrina, read on until you couldn’t bear the lump in your throat. Some are feeling the crunch for the first time they could really use the messages of the people who have been there yet survived.
Hand-me-down goodies and temporal feasts are just that, temporary. What about the other seasons to come, will they get better? It doesn’t have to remain as a hanging question .You can find your answers right here in the net. Be proactive, aim for self-empowerment, aim for employment. Being down doesn’t mean you have to stay there forever, you can slowly inch your way forward until you get another chance at life.
Americans are lucky because there’s a US government website that details a list of around 1000 financial and employment assistance. People from all walks of life, of any ethnicity, of the unemployed or about to be unemployed can check-out this website and find a program that can help them.
Click on to GovBenefits.gov: http://www.govbenefits.gov/ and search for the assistance program that will suit you. Just answer the questionnaire and based on the information you will provide, the site will produce a search result as to what assistance program you will benefit from.
No wonder most Filipinos see the US as a land of greener pastures, they long for a government that works for them. However, government help or no help, Filipinos can and will get by through their own resiliency. We are thankful enough that their make-do shanties don’t to have to face cold winter months. They can scavenge for old bottles, plastics, newspapers and junks without having to worry about snow or the biting cold. Housewives can render laundry services and hang clothes out to dry on their tin roofs. So there really isn’t any reason why we cannot survive. The point is jobs are out there if we search for it and not wait for it to find us.
See the author’s related article: No Money this Christmas? Find Help by Finding a Job. by following this link: http://www.brighthub.com/money/personal-finance/articles/18867.aspx?p=1
