The most emotionally draining incident happened early in the morning, less than an hour after coming in. A young woman came in wanting help with the past-due amount on her electric bill. She'd just got her child support check that morning (her only income). Added to the $50 CAP could provide she'd just cover the past-due but didn't count on the reconnect fee. Well, CAP can't help out financially if the participant can't assure that the power will be turned back on. When I told her that she needed to come up with $137 more she started crying. As she wiped away tears she told me about her young son - She was glad he wasn't at home when the power was shut off so she wouldn't have to explain it to him. She told me about food rotting because she could only store a little food in her neighbor's fridge. Worst of all, her landlord was coming by in the afternoon, and disconnected power meant an immediate failure and eviction. I didn't know what to say to her. I don't know what any of that is like, and although I try to put myself in that position, I really don't have a clue as to what any of that feels like. Thank God that she went outside and called her grandmother who agreed to loan her the money for the reconnection fee. After I gave her the check she hugged me and said "God bless you" but I didn't feel very good about myself. I felt out of place mostly.
Needless to say, it was a busy day, like most days. We left work a couple hours early, since we worked so long yesterday. When I got back to the house I had a couple cards waiting for me from some lovely friends. :) Keep them coming! I only saw three of my housemates this evening. Jen, Mandy, Karen and I had dinner and then Jen, Karen, and I went into town to get some postcards for Jen to mail back home, and we stopped by the IGA (where they have Ale-8 vending machines and one bottle costs 50 cents!) Random sidenote: While waiting for people I found a ton of Christmas cards and several dreidels in the computer room - as well as other random stuff like sidewalk chalk, floam, badmitton birdies, etc. So now I'm all set for Christmas cards! And Sarah from Mt Vernon House can teach us how to play with the dreidels. Tonight my three housemates and I went over to Mt Vernon House and watched Love Happens with some of the housemates over there. It has good soundtrack (Rogue Wave! Postal Service!) Tomorrow we may be hiking at Cumberland Falls or checking out the Little World Fair in Brodhead (apparently Rockcastle doesn't have a county fair, so this is the stand-in)
Thank you, Mom and Dad, for finally sending my camera! Pictures from tonight:
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