Her entire life, Christine Matthews has only ever lived paycheck to paycheck. For five years, while making $8.25 an hour at Harris Teeter, she could only afford a free cup of water from Starbucks for lunch.
Even with four kids of her own, Merline A. Gallegos takes money out of her paycheck every week to buy food and clothing for the children in her care whose families cannot afford it.
Patricia Bustillo Ramirez is the matriarch of a household in New Mexico that includes her daughter and her daughter’s child, as well as her son and his wife and their child. They all struggle to work and pay the rent together.
These are the voices that our politicians need to listen to—and legislate for.