Wed, Nov 25 2009
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Published June 25, 2008 06:31 pm - Sherry Allums talked her husband, Roy, into selling their house in Euclid and moving to Ashtabula County so their grandson, Dylan Christian, could attend better schools. Life on $7.75 an hour By CARL E. FEATHER - Lifestyle Editor - cfeather@starbeacon.com Star Beacon Sherry Allums talked her husband, Roy, into selling their house in Euclid and moving to Ashtabula County so their grandson, Dylan Christian, could attend better schools.
The plan seemed entirely feasible, although Roy would have to give up his $15.89-an-hour factory job. He was certain he’d be able to get a job at the Lake Erie Correctional Institution and his wife would be able to make up the difference by finding work. Nearly three years later, Sherry Allums regrets her decision and the implications it had for their family. “I apologize to my husband all the time. ‘I’m sorry I did this to you,’” she says. “I destroyed my husband’s life. I took away his beautiful home; I took away his good-paying job. Now, we are going to lose it all.” Sherry, a native of Pierpont, says she wanted Dylan to have the kind of education she got in a small, caring school. They have guardianship of their grandson because his mother died of cancer. Shortly after her death, Dylan developed cancer at the age of 2. He went into remission, but another kind of cancer was diagnosed in him just two months after the family moved to Conneaut. He required weeks of radiation and chemotherapy treatment in Cleveland, which was covered by Medicaid. But the incidental and travel expenses wrecked the family’s fragile budget. Further, Roy couldn’t pass the physical for the prison and was unable to locate work elsewhere in the county. A class A die polisher, Roy discovered his skills were not a good fit for the few job openings in the county. Roy turned to a temporary agency to find work. He discovered most of Conneaut’s major employers use Infinity Resources to screen and hire new employees. Roy worked for Wayne Dalton through Infinity, but eventually was put on a leave of absence as the family dealt with Dylan’s cancer. “We got behind,” Sherry says. “We got way behind,” Roy clarifies. In a matter of months, the couple went from being middle class to poor. Roy applied through another agency, Career Concepts, which found a job for him in Fairview, Pa. Now an employee of the plastics molding company, Roy makes $7.75 an hour on third shift. The wage is just enough to keep the family from receiving many government programs but not nearly enough to live on. Their house payment alone is $754. Roy and Sherry say that’s a worry that they probably won’t have; they’ll probably lose the $88,000 house to foreclosure this year because there simply is not enough money to cover the payment. Sherry says they’ve exhausted every safety valve in trying to keep their house. Their credit cards are maxed out, and those creditors hound them daily. When their furnace died and needed $900 in repairs, Sherry had to turn to her retired parents for a loan. She pays them back at $50 a month, but Sherry admits she often has to cheat on that bill and borrow $20 from her mother, even as she gives her $50 for the furnace. Their Christmas was courtesy of United Methodist Churches and Girl Scout Troop 671. The family has cut expenses to the bone, but $7.75 an hour doesn’t go far when gasoline costs $3.35 a gallon and it’s at least 15 miles to work. To help save commuting expenses, Roy car-pools with two other workers. Roy has had four heart attacks and needs to have a stress test, but that would involve missing a day of work and losing a day of pay. He takes at least five prescription medications. 
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