To the attention of:
Barack Obama, US President;
Andrew Cuomo, Governor of New York;
US Senators from New York: Charles E. Schumer, Kirsten E. Gillibrand;
US Representatives from New York: Ann Marie Buerkle, Anthony D. Weiner, Brian Higgins, Carolyn McCarthy, Carolyn B. Maloney, Charles B. Rangel, Christopher John Lee, Christopher P. Gibson, Edolphus Towns, Eliot L. Engel, Gary L. Ackerman, Gregory W. Meeks, Jerrold Nadler, John J. Hall, Jose E. Serrano, Joseph Crowley, Louise McIntosh Slaughter, Maurice D. Hinchey, Michael A. Arcuri, Michael G. Grimm, Nita M. Lowey, Nydia M. Velazquez, Paul Tonko, Peter T. King, Steve Israel, Timothy H. Bishop, Tom Reed, William L. Owens, Yvette D. Clarke;
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I want to ask all of you as you sit around your dinner table on the holidays with your family, what goes through your mind at the end of the day? I would like to tell you mine as I just sat here looking to see if there were programs to help me with my back rent and read how many people were also suffering and within each post my heart breaks more because there are people in this country, "our country" who have nothing and feel like they have failed though they have truly tried to make it. I am a 32 year old single mom of a smart and beautiful 8 year old who deserves the world and in order to give her what she needed I had to let her move in with her dad and his parents. You are probably sitting there thinking I didn't have to, well I will fill you in on the situation in my life a year ago. I was homeless sleeping in my car at whatever private area I could find praying that the police didn't pull over and tell me to leave. I scrounged whatever change I could find and the only meal I would eat is a .85 cent bag of popcorn. Eventually the "system" did help me and put me and my daughter up in a temporary homeless shelter that was 5 miles outside of my daughter's school district. The program offered to have a bus transport her to her initial school but that program never followed through and every night I had to watch my daughter leave with her father so she could attend school in the morning and every morning whether it was raining or not I rode my bike ten miles so I could say good morning, give her a kiss and tell her I love her. I rode my bike because I lost my car and the "system" wouldn't help me get it fixed but yet they helped those who did nothing to help themselves. Eventually this shelter found me a studio apartment to live in and the agreement was for 6 months they paid a part of the rent and then Social Services paid the remainder so I could have time to find employment again. I eventually did find employment by a boss who is only here on a green card and was paid nothing and received barely an income to support myself. So off my daughter went so she could have school clothes and food to eat that I couldn't offer her. The day she moved was the hardest day of my life, I felt like she was gone forever and the hole that was left is still there and I still can't support her. I eventually found another job but only making a dollar more an hour and now was just told last week that my position which is a civil position is a temporary on call which means I am hired for 6 months and then laid off for 3 months collecting the little amount of unemployment that people receive. I have been with this company for 3 months and I was just told that. Christmas is right around the corner and not only can't I buy presents for my daughter but I may be homeless again because I can't afford my rent, and oh yes I did go to Social Services and guess what I was told. They told me that I made "two dollars" too much and I didn't qualify for assitance on back rent. So with all of that said let me tell you about the person I am. I am a honest person, very intelligent but can't afford college so my potential to be something great is limited because I don't have the degree to back me up. I am a compassionate person and I give more than I could ever imagine receiving. I am not your typical person, I am not selfish, I don't believe in material things, all I ever want out of life is a just a chance to breathe. My childhood was stolen from me by my Uncle when he sexually abused me for three years and when I finally found the courage to speak I was told that the statue of limitation expired and I couldn't press charges. So the man that took my life away from me got away free. I spent my whole life blaming myself for what happened, my whole life with a mother who was never home because she was always working to support us, my whole life wishing my father was still alive but he was killed by a drunk driver, and my whole life wishing I had a different life. I became quiet and withdrawn holding in all of my anger because I had nobody to tell or help me through it. I starved myself because I wanted to disappear, I cut myself because I want to forget about everything that happened to me for two seconds even if it meant inflicting pain because that pain was better than what I was feeling on the inside. I spent my whole life thinking I didn't deserve anything good so I destroyed everything good. I have been in and out of hospitals trying to grasp what little faith I had. Through all of that I did survive but yet I am still fighting every day. So I ask you, what do you think about at the end of the day? Do you think about us, the people who make you, who represent this country more than you, the people who voted for you and supported you? You make cut backs in all the wrong spots, you spend money over seas when there are children here in "your country" that are starving to death. There are people everyday fighting to keep their homes, to keep food in their kids stomachs and you wonder why the suicide rate is so high. People just want a chance, it's not about greed, it's about pride and when that pride is stripped from you over and over you are whittled down to nothing. We aren't asking you to a million dollars, we are asking for you to just listen to what "we" need and though you say you are your actions don't portray. I would love to give my daughter the Christmas I dream of in my head, a tree and decorations, a table to sit around enjoying a meal, the chance to see her in the morning. I would love to feel free for a moment in my life, but instead I feel like I have these chains hanging off of me andI am only 32. You may be sitting here thinking I didn't try, but you are wrong, there are three sides to all stories, yours, mine and the truth. My life has been traumatic and I am still suffering while those who did wrong are living free, how sad has this country become.
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