It started with a tree.
A storm cleaved the 60-foot red oak in two, with one side dangling over the street, the other over our house. It was post-2008, and the country was in the thick of the Great Recession. My then-husband was still employed, but my job disappeared with the economic downturn. We had already stretched his income thin to cover the needs of our three children and middle-class household.
Like so many other Americans at that time — and now — we had little in savings, not enough to cover both the tree and our monthly bills. Still, we had it removed and rearranged our budget, cutting where we could until we couldn’t cut anymore. We prioritized our underwater mortgage, the car insurance so he could get to work, and food.
Yet there wasn’t enough for food.
Read the full op-ed.
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