Apr. 13, 2021 Catholic News Service As the pandemic provoked shutdowns across the United States in March 2020, Jason s stress level began to climb. He had to handle cash as an essential employee selling car parts at an AutoZone in McKinney, Texas, a state with no mask mandate. His precarious health asthma, sarcoidosis, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, allergies put him at a higher risk of serious illness should he contract COVID-19. As his hours dwindled at work, Jason s ability to pay his bills began to depend on the opportunity to mow someone s grass for quick cash or sell whatever he could find that was sitting in his garage: the tools he still needed, or the motorcycle, which was worth twice what he sold it for. Then last June 8 he lost his job.
Felician Sr. Maria Louise Edwards visits a man experiencing homelessness in Pomona, California. (Courtesy of Felician Sisters)
As the pandemic provoked shutdowns across the United States in March 2020, Jason s stress level began to climb. He had to handle cash as an essential employee selling car parts at an AutoZone in McKinney, Texas, a state with no mask mandate. His precarious health asthma, sarcoidosis, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, allergies put him at a higher risk of serious illness should he contract COVID-19.
As his hours dwindled at work, Jason s ability to pay his bills began to depend on the opportunity to mow someone s grass for quick cash or sell whatever he could find that was sitting in his garage: the tools he still needed, or the motorcycle, which was worth twice what he sold it for. On June 8, 2020, he lost his job.