When the Strain of COVID-19 Turns Financial
With all the lost jobs and wages due to COVID-19 closures, the financial strain for many of our neighbors is serious. Thanks to our generous donors, The Salvation Army provides funds for rent and utility payments for these struggling families, keeping them in their homes. Annie Tellez, an emergency caseworker at The Salvation Army La Villita Corps Community Center, offers a firsthand perspective of why this assistance is so important – now more than ever.
During this COVID-19 crisis, here at the La Villita Corps we have gotten a front-row seat to our neighbors’ struggles. We have experienced grief, pain, sadness, loneliness, and hardship through our client’s eyes. It is hard to see the aftermath of a wife losing her husband, but it has become a common occurrence in our neighborhood. The need to provide for family outweighs the danger of being exposed to the virus.
I recall a specific client who was too weak from the loss of her husband to seek help. Her eldest daughters reached out to us trying to find assistance with rent and utilities after their funds had been drained from having to pay for their father’s funeral. They never expected to lose their father so soon, and they shared with me the sadness it had brought to them, his grandchildren, and his wife. It was hard for them emotionally, and now financially too.
The comfort The Salvation Army brings is not just monetary. While we were able to carry financial burdens with them, we were also able to be in the moment and grieve and pray for them. The Salvation Army is a lighthouse to all who are lost, and we welcome all who need a place to rest during the storm.
Thanks to the funds we receive from our generous donors, we are able to support people in their hardest time. We pray that in their moment of difficulty they are able to find peace within their family and in the support of the Army’s La Villita Corps.
Learn about all the ways The Salvation Army is responding to the coronavirus – as well as how you can help – at salarmychicago.org/coronavirus.
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For tax purposes: The Salvation Army Metropolitan Division EIN is 36-2167910.