Daniel here: I lost both of my jobs in the span of three weeks at the beginning of this year.

My side job was the first to go, when my contract was terminated in December as part of the fallout from a merger. Before I could look for new leads, I was abruptly laid off from my day job as part of a major restructuring in January. My income dropped to zero. I received two months’ worth of severance pay, applied immediately for unemployment assistance, and started sending out job applications.

What makes this an additionally challenging time is that Tracy’s counseling practice is still in its early stages, and her client list is still developing. That means that her income can vary greatly between pay periods, and even the larger payments are significantly less than what’s distributed for unemployment.

As of this writing (June 16), I am in my 23rd week of unemployment. I have applied for 522 jobs, been interviewed and rejected by 10 of them, am currently interviewing with 4 more, and continue to search for work daily. I have already received more than 80% of my allowed unemployment payments, meaning there are only a few weeks remaining, and even they are only a fraction of what we need to survive.

I do not currently know if we will be able to make our July rent payment, to say nothing of the other bills. We shop frugally for meals at home, and we limit our one car usage to essentials. (Tracy is able to conduct most sessions via telehealth.) We have been the beneficiaries of support from close friends and family, who are the only reason we’ve made it this far. But this is the longest stretch of unemployment I have ever dealt with, and even in the event of any job offer, I wouldn’t receive any income for close to a month after my start date, whenever that would be.

I’m sad that I am writing this. Even as fortunate as I knew I was, even as hard I worked, even as much as I knew that hard work wouldn’t always be enough, I never thought that I would find myself in a situation like this.

If you are able to offer any help, I would be more grateful than I can express. If you can’t, that is absolutely OK, too. I know that I am far from the only person dealing with the fallout of the US economy. But I am in need of serious help, and I do not know what else to do.

Thank you,

Daniel & Tracy