Hello there and thank you for taking the time to read my story. My name is James Snelling and I'm a software engineer. Up until January of this year, I was gainfully employed with a national life insurance company and my family was doing ok. But our family of four has hit some very hard times.
Unfortunately, in mid-January, I was suddenly laid-off with no notice or warning and no severance of any kind. Lay-offs are somewhat common in my field, and periods of unemployment are fairly short, usually. But as we've been seeing in the news, times are not normal and a lot of people are in a similar boat.
While my wife still (thankfully) has remained employed and working as much as she can , her income has not been anywhere near enough, especially since she had to take time off to recover from major surgery this month. To add to that, costs are rising in Southern California and her additional income streams have also stopped due to the economy. Our reserves have been completely tapped out, our credit is maxed, our student loans have increased, and as difficult as it is to put our business out for all to see and judge, at this point all pride is set aside as we don't know what else to do.
While I continue to send out hundreds, if not thousands, of copies of my resume every week and I have the occasional interview, competition for the small amount of openings available is higher than it's ever been before.
A book I read once said that shared joy is increased while shared pain is lessened and we believe in that statement and try to live that everyday by helping others and sharing whenever we can, but now we have to ask for any help you can spare. We're trying to at least be able to afford our rent and our utilities, as well as food for our family and our pets for another month. I have a few potential job interviews that seem very positive, but we need help to survive until then they can come through.
Any amount you might be able to spare is a greatly appreciated. We understand times are tough not for just us, but for many people at this time, so if you can’t spare anything monetary at this time, any leads for any type of employment would also be greatly appreciated. We have never been the type of people to ask for any type of hand-outs or not work for what we need.
Also, if anyone also has any type of assistance they may need with computers/IT, software, handy man work, guitar lessons, music, etc, please let me know. I'm reliable, thoughtful, professional, and knowledgeable. I would love to be able to earn some money to help me feel like I am also helping to bring in money and help take care of my little family.
Again Thank you for taking the time to read our story, and for your consideration and support. It means more than you know.
