Americans deceived themselves to apply for benefits 0
But when the `Covid-19 storm` hit, Lacy, 27, lost her warehouse job as well as her part-time job at a 7-Eleven store.
This father of two is now in the long line of cars heading to a free food distribution site in Dallas.
One of the people lining up at the free food distribution site at the Crossroads Dallas community service center.
Like 70% of the people at the Crossroads Dallas community service center one day last week, Lacy had never been here.
Hundreds of thousands of Americans, from nail technicians in Los Angeles to airport workers in Fort Lauderdale, from bartenders in Phoenix to former reality show contestants in Minnesota, are experiencing sex for the first time in their lives.
`First, we saw retail workers, chefs, waiters and restaurant owners,` said David Greenfield, executive director of the Met Council, a nonprofit organization that provides food and support.
In the city of St.
`They told us not to come to work, so what else can we do,` Theusch said.
In Los Angeles, Samantha Pasaye, 29, a nail technician, asked for donations on Instagram after the salon where she worked closed.
Adedyo Codrington, a trade show employee and union president, another customer of the free food distribution site in Dallas, filed for unemployment shortly after losing his job on March 8.
So Codrington, 41, a father of two, had to find a food distribution point.
Colleagues raised $100 to support him, but the money was almost gone.
`From earning 1,500-2,000 USD a week, I fell into the same bad situation as now,` he said.
`A lot of Americans are proud of their self-reliance and independence,` commented Alice Fothergill, a sociology professor at the University of Vermont.
According to her, people who feel embarrassed about seeking benefits are often the ones who need them the most.
Greenfield from Met Council New York said many people came to his charity for the first time and kept apologizing.
For some people, when applying for benefits, even though they are eligible, they still worry about whether there is anyone else who needs benefits more than them and whether applying for benefits will take away the opportunity of others.
Kirk DeWindt, 36 years old, a fitness trainer in Brooklyn Park, Minnesota, has participated in the reality TV show `The Bachelor` three times.
On GoFundMe, an online donation page, about 120 million USD has been donated to campaigns related to Covid-19 since the first week of March until now.
Raven Green and two children.
In Phoenix, Raven Green, 28, a single mother of two, turned to GoFundMe after losing all three of her jobs as a bartender, gig singer and flyer in less than a week.
Green panicked.
`I don’t want people to think I’m struggling,` Green said.
The Covid-19 storm perhaps impacts immigrants pursuing the `American dream` the most.
Alex Rotaru, 48, a filmmaker and actor from Beverly Hills, left Romania for the United States when he was 21 years old.
Rotaru had to struggle with thought before deciding to apply for unemployment benefits.
`I definitely felt embarrassed, but I quickly got over it because I thought of my son,` he said.
Ernst Virgile, 38 years old, moved from Haiti to the US with his wife in 2012. He was determined to work tirelessly for a better life.
Virgile’s wife cried at the prospect of having to ask the bank to pause her home loan payments.
They had never been in such a desperate situation.
Vu Hoang (According to NYTimes)
