NEW YORK (AP) – Last Christmas, Shanita Matthews prepared a feast for her family of three: Roast chicken, barbecue chops, spinach, macaroni and cheese.
This year? They will be left with tuna and biscuits, among the few items she can buy at the supermarket.
“We’re not really celebrating Christmas – I think you can say that,” said Matthews, who lives in Suwanee, Georgia. “We are fighting. We are tired and all I have is my faith. “
Like almost 10 million other Americans, Matthews has been unemployed since the viral pandemic hit the US economy in March, triggering a devastating recession and widespread unemployment. Now, many months later, they face a holiday season that they could hardly have anticipated a year ago: very little money to buy gifts, prepare large festive meals or pay all their bills.
Nearly 8 million people have fallen into poverty since June, after spending $ 1,200 checks that the government gave most Americans in the spring and an additional $ 600 a week unemployment benefit expired in July, according to research from Bruce Meyer at the University of Chicago and two other colleagues. And finding a job is getting even harder: hiring in November slowed for the fifth consecutive month, with employers in the United States adding the lowest number of jobs since April.
Some relief may – potentially – be on the way. This week, Congress passed a $ 900 billion pandemic rescue package that includes $ 300 a week unemployment insurance, cash payments of up to $ 600 for most individuals, and a renewal of extended health programs. unemployment benefits that are about to expire. On Tuesday night, however, President Donald Trump injected doubts about the federal aid urgently needed by attacking the rescue package as inappropriate and suggesting that he might not sanction it.
In the meantime, help cannot come soon to Matthews. With her bank balance now negative, she fears that her account may be closed if she does not receive financial aid soon.
Matthews, 41, has struggled with her finances since she had to close her wedding business in March, when the ceremonies were canceled and any need for centerpieces and flower arrangements she made suddenly evaporated. Matthews was denied unemployment benefits by the Georgia Department of Labor. She doesn’t understand why and is appealing the decision. But the process is so slow that she waited months just to get an audience.
Despite being a registered nurse, Matthews did not get a job. She can only work late because she often needs to help her 6-year-old daughter, who must do virtual learning at home when cases of viruses increase in her school.
Matthews’ car was taken over after she was unable to pay the payments. Most of what her husband earns goes to a $ 1,600 mortgage on his home. That leaves them with about $ 200 a month for groceries, utilities and a $ 50 Internet bill – a necessity for their daughter’s schoolwork.
Matthews hopes that a relative can step in and buy his daughter a Christmas present.
“We want to be able to have food, water, heat,” she said. “These are the things we care about.”
Charities say they are overwhelmed with calls for help, a sign that many are in deep financial crisis. United Way expects the number of calls to the 211 hotline it funds to double over the past year to 20 million calls, mostly from people who need help paying rent or electricity bills. Feeding America says that many of the people attending the food banks are newbies.
Desperate, Sheyontay Molton asked Twitter for help after a series of events left her without money to buy gifts for her four children.
Their children’s father lost his job this year. Molton, who is 28 and lives in San Antonio, Texas, had to temporarily stop working as a delivery driver for DoorDash after the wreckage of a truck severely damaged his car in October. She used some of the rent money to fix it, leaving it behind in the accounts.
Having noticed on Twitter that social media influencers and celebrities were providing money to some people in need, Molton created an account and tweeted about his situation. Someone sent her $ 200 through an app – money she plans to use to make purchases. Another couple on Twitter asked her to create an Amazon wish list and then bought their children a doll, cars and other toys for Christmas.
Without the donations, Molton planned to tell his young children that Santa Claus could not come because he was taking extra precautions against the coronavirus.
“Nonsense, I know,” she said, but “it would have given me more time.”
The struggles of low-income workers and the unemployed are contributing to a weak holiday shopping season that is likely to drag the economy as a whole. Retail sales fell 1.1% in November, a typically strong month with the beginning of the purchase of gifts. Some economists expect retail sales to decline again this month, mainly because governments impose more restrictions on business and the increase in coronavirus cases keeps consumers away from stores and restaurants.
A shorter vacation is what Summer Kluytman has envisioned. She had to tell her two teenage sons not to expect the types of Christmas gifts they used to receive in the past, such as the $ 400 Oculus virtual reality headset that was under the tree last year.
After losing two jobs as an art teacher, Kluytman had to receive food stamps to help pay for purchases. Her husband’s salary, who works for a cable TV company, goes to rent her home in St. Petersburg, Florida.
Kluytman is spending $ 100 on each child this Christmas for sweatshirts and other clothes, down from the $ 500 she spent on each one last year. She plans to hold movie nights, where they will gather in the living room to watch a movie.
“I think they look good with us spending time together, instead of a lot of things under the tree,” she said. “But it breaks my heart a little.”
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Rugaber reported from Washington.