George’s Story

I’ve lived in Denver all of my life and really love the city. I worked hard and sent my children to college. I wanted them to have a better opportunity than me. I had been on my job for over 20 years and felt it was secure. One day (it was pay day actually) I got my pink slip along with my final pay check. I looked around me and all of us had the same look of disbelief. When I got home, I didn’t know what to tell my wife.

She had been diagnosed with breast cancer a month before. That’s when we took out a second mortgage on our home to be prepared for the chemotherapy and doctor’s visits that were coming our way. She was lovely as usual saying how we always made out okay and we were going to be okay now. The following year was the most difficult ever. My wife was so sick from the cancer treatments and we were running out of money. I had applied at every steel company in the area. I always got the same reply “Not Hiring”. The money from our second mortgage was almost used up. Too young for Social Security and too old to land a job!