The Welfare Queens

I can't single out one person but as a group the women I worked with as a teenager were inspiring. My family had a small electronics business back then. We stuffed circuit boards and laced wiring harnesses that went into computers. The State of Michigan had a program ‘Welfare to Work' where the state paid part of the minimum wage for welfare recipients for the first six months they were employed. It was a great deal for us because it allowed us to offset the cost of training new employees, some who never had a job before.

One of the new employees that started in the summer was learning fast and doing a good job. But when fall came around she was always a few minutes late. As the weather got worse she got later and later. She always made up the time during lunch or breaks but it was becoming a problem.

It was my job to investigate the reason why she was late. What I found out was she was walking several miles to work each day. This wasn't unusual. We had many employees that walked to work. But she had a small child at home who was developmentally delayed and during the school year she had to wait with him at the school bus stop until the bus arrived. Then she headed to work. One of her Coworkers told me the story and was trying to find a way to help.

The employees came up with a plan and with a little help from my family we pulled it off. One of the ladies had a boyfriend who rebuilt cars. The cars were nothing special but they ran reliably and we had one as a delivery van for the company. In years past we had held a drawing for all fulltime employees giving away small appliances or a TV at the end of the year. Everyone got a turkey and a bottle of liquor regardless but the drawing was always a big hit.

Well this year we were giving away a rebuilt '76 Olds Cutlass with a bad paint job and rust spots on the bumper. The women were willing to forgo the turkey and liquor this year and use the money to buy the car. The ladies had all decided who was going to win before hand. So we went thru the mock drawing and she won.  It made her life so much better in so many ways.

The thing that got me was these women, many were still making minimum wage or just over it. For most of them, they were working a 40 hour week and by the time they paid for transportation, childcare and lunch they were lucky to net $20 per week. They were not only willing but eager to help someone else.