My sister did the same, trying to raise a child (after my POS bil left her) while putting herself through school to support herself and my one nephew.
She is now an RN. Yes, she had to “borrow” money from me to get a bit of oil for heat and hot water, but she made it through.
Where are these elders family to help out? I sure as heck didn’t have enough money to just give, but I did.
Where are their families, or neighbors to help them out?
She is 92. How many people at 92 have anyone left in their own generation? Her youngest child possible would be in their 70s. What if those family members are also dirt poor? Any grandchildren or grand nieces/nephews could also be in their 50s and in bad straits.
I do believe assistance might be available, but they make you spend down to nothing with no hard assets. Not that a trailer house is worth much, anyway.
What folks don’t realize is that the heating aid is a pool. It is paid for by those who pay for fuel or electric heat. More folks in bad situations equals less per fuel voucher. It is sent to the supplier and the time lag can be 6-8 weeks or so it has been in the past out here, where the rural fuel is propane.
This woman worked until she was 80. She has too much income to get food stamps in my state. Not even sure she could get SSI.
I did a major shopping yesterday. The stores were jammed, especially Aldi’s and Sam’s. Even the Mexican families were not being spendthrifts. I saw one family with mom, dad, 4 kids and what was probably a BIL. The men were deciding on everything that went into the cart. I saw them load up on 8 packages of the mini tortillas, 2 dozen eggs, some cheese and some 2 gallon containers of cheap juice. Likely they have 20#-50# bags of rice and beans at home. I saw the older man decide against some items that the wife had put in the cart and watched her put them back. I didn’t see them check out, but it made an impression on me. I did not see overflowing carts anywhere. I saw discussions between spouses, people checking off lists, people reading the labels and best by dates and weight/quantity and discussing those.
I spent 2x what I usually do at Aldi’s since I have experienced their products and bought my items there that were good quality buys at a savings. We splurged at the meat counter at Sam’s because we decided we would rather have a good piece of beef every 7-10 days than other items for the holidays. Also, we normally make a rib roast for Christmas and I didn’t even see one, anywhere. Instead, we bought an obscenely expensive whole rib eye, cut off a roast and made the rest into thick steaks that we will split. They will have to last us 3 months to justify the price.
Everyone is hurting and the most vulnerable are hurting the most. I hope the judgmental posters never have the experience of being asked to name their next of kin on some official form and having to reply that there is no one.
any reason you posted it three times?