We viewed a video at a Teacher In-service not long ago and found out that more than 16 million kids live in poverty.  There are people right around us in our school neighborhood who are having hard times such as these, and many people all over the country are, in fact, due to the economy.   People lose their jobs, they can’t make their mortgage payments, they lose their homes, and then they find themselves homeless.
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Many people (several that we know and some that we’ve heard about) have lost jobs and are either still looking for work or have taken a job for less pay and satisfaction. Here in the Metroplex, we see new stores opening but yet other stores are closing and going out of business.
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Things are not getting better in the teaching job market. A teacher I work with every day said that her husband has been applying for jobs and applied for a certain teaching job recently where there were 700 other applicants for that one position.  He is still looking for work.  Two years ago, a substitute teacher who was looking for a teaching job said there were 400 applicants for one position for which she applied.  A couple of years ago, a friend of mine who works in school administration in another district said they had over 2,000 applicants for their jobs posted.  I have relatives in other states, and it’s the same way there, too.
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Churches are really good about helping those in their surrounding areas with free food and clothing, utility payments, finding places to live, etc.  There are more and more people coming to church food pantries because they can’t find work.  Times are hard!  Some people’s situations can bring tears to your eyes.