See if anything jumps off the page at you here (link):
Newark dining hall a refuge for the jobless from life’s countless struggles
By ROBIN BROWN • The News Journal • November 4, 2009
Kathryn Vandenbraak and Kenneth Barclay are regulars at Hope Dining Room, a refuge in the cavernous basement of Kingswood United Methodist Church on Marrows Road near Newark.
There’s a side entrance to the dining room. Meals are served around large tables. Last week, beef noodle casserole and meaty chili were dished up by soup kitchen volunteers.
Regular calls for pantry donations appear in the church newsletter — milk packets, cereal, noodles, peanut butter. In this down economy, the need is particularly acute in places such as Newark, where jobs vanished nearly a year ago with the closing of the Chrysler plant.
“We’re optimistic, but as far as the job market goes, the glass isn’t half-full yet,” said Vandenbraak, 26.
Last week, Vandenbraak and Barclay, 34, ate lunch at the church. There at the same time, five former Chrysler workers.
The plant employed 1,100 before making its last Dodge Durango in December. The 272-acre site across from the University of Delaware had been an employment mainstay since 1938. UD plans to build a technology park there, but development is a year or more away.
Chrysler jobs paid well and were steady, and employee paychecks supported surrounding businesses.
Now those workers are in the unemployment line, and the community is feeling their loss.
Vandenbraak, who worked in banking, more recently has worked as a waitress. But her hours kept getting cut, and then she was let go. “It’s just that nobody’s eating out any more. The economy’s very hard right now on us,” she said.
Barclay said he earned good pay as a mason, but as the economy soured, work faded to a week a month, “then that was gone.”
Vandenbraak said she and Barclay are determined to do better, pursuing both help and work. They gave up their apartment to rent a cheap room, get charity food baskets when they can and keep applying for aid. They were approved for subsidized housing last month.
Every day at the dining room gives them a stress break, a chance to relax together, to meet people who don’t judge them and to enjoy nice meals without the worry of finding money to pay, they said.
“It feels like we’re getting back on our feet a little bit,” Vandenbraak said.
Terry Harter, 58, of Bear, who left his body shop job at Chrysler years before the ailing automaker closed in Newark, said he comes to the dining room to stretch a fixed income but also because of good food and familiar faces.
“I’ve never had a bad meal here, and some days, it’s really banging,” he said. “Plus, I get to see all the boys.”
Recently, he’s met other former Chrysler workers inside the Hope Dining Room — and he expects to see more.
Unemployment benefits for some Chrysler workers could run out as soon as this month.
Benefits varied at Chrysler and some employees landed jobs at other sites. Of eligible workers, 73 percent took early retirement, one-time payments of $70,000 and regular pension benefits.
Half of those eligible for buyouts took them. Workers with 1 to 10 years employment got $100,000. Longer-term employees got $140,000.
One ex-Chrysler worker at the dining room, a body shopper, said he was too young for a buyout, didn’t want to move, can’t find work and is surprised how fast benefits ran out.
I think the entire G.I.N. agrees that charities like the Hope Dining Room are wonderful, and if you’re inclined to give, we are living in a time when a lot of people need the help wherever they can get it. My family is working on a plan to increase our giving, and if you have a chance, a lot of these places are run very efficiently and do great work.
The G.I.N. President pointed out that as listed, the story for Mr. Harter doesn’t come make me sympathetic. So he “left” his job (check one: resigned? retired? laid off? terminated for cause?) and lives on a fixed income. At 58, barring disability, you can still work. Coming by to “see all the boys” because the food is “banging”? Call me cynical but I see people like this as more “wanty” than “needy”.
I believe that the social contract this nation used to have until it was run down with sticky-fingered carnie-folk included that you don’t take charity intended for those in need unless you are absolutely in need yourself.
In a way, the guy who lost his job (because he didn’t want to transfer) and ran out of unemployment.. get serious. I wish everyone would get the memo: there’s no such thing as a free lunch.