Homeowner Spraypaints "Help!" "Foreclosure!" Onto House

As part of our Bearing Witness 2.0 project, the Huffington Post is rounding up compelling local stories about the victims of the recession.

A distressed homeowner in San Antonio, Texas, spray-painted "Help!" and "Foreclosure!"on the side of her home to prevent losing it, reports Janet Kwak for WOAI-TV. Mary Ann Herrera lost her administrative assistant job in March, and has been unable to pay her bills.

"I didn't know if we were going to be homeless," she told WOAI.

It took eight months, but Herrera's loan was finally modified. With back taxes, though, her bills are even larger than they used to be, and she doubts she will be able to hold onto her house for long. "I used to pay $440 a month," she said. The bank "did lower the payment to $380... but I have to pay house taxes, house insurance, and the escrow for those past eight months, and now I'm facing $760 a month."

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An emergency fund meant to assist Idaho military families while soldiers are deployed overs-seas is being used to help current soldiers get through the recession at home, reports Tim Woodward for the Statesman [http://www.idahostatesman.com/102/story/1007530.html]. Idaho National Guard Pfc. Bambi Williams, a single mother of three, lost her civilian job as a nursing assistant this fall, and could not keep paying the rent. She told the paper that she would he homeless without the Idaho Guard and Reserve Family Support Fund, which paid for two months of rent and gave her a $600 gift card to Walmart for food and household needs.

The fund was started in 2004 to help military families at home with things like transportation and major household appliances. Maj. Jim Hicks, the fund's secretary-treasurer, attributed a quarter of their current requests to the poor economy. "That's quite a bit more than when the program started," he said. The fund distributes interest-free loans and no-strings-attached grants. Williams said that, because of the grant she received, this year "will probably be the best Christmas we've had in a long time."

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On Saturday, the school district in Salinas, Calif., will team up with a local church to host a Christmas party for about 400 homeless students in the city, reports Maria Ines Zamudio for the Californian [http://www.thecalifornian.com/article/20091215/NEWS01/912150312/1002]. Santa Claus will be in attendance to talk to the children and hand out gifts, and kids will get to play games and make crafts.

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"Most of these families are not going to have a Christmas at all," said Cheryl Camany, homeless liaison and outreach consultant for the district. "[Parents] have lost their jobs, homes and vehicles. They don't even know if they are going to have a roof over their heads on Christmas."BLOCK

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A family in Sarasota, Fla., would have lost their home had it not been for the help they received from the Jewish Family and Children's Service [http://www.jfcs-cares.org/], reports the Herald-Tribune's Jennifer Shea [http://www.heraldtribune.com/article/20091215/ARTICLE/912151026/2416/NEWS?Title=Family-was-on-brink-of-losing-their-home&tc=ar]. Kevin Witkowski is a mechanic whose business has fallen off. "I get paid by the job, not by the hour," he told Shea, so when his pay declined by about 45 percent, the Witkowskis started to fall behind on their housing payments.

Kevin and his wife, Teresa, negotiated with their bank, Wells Fargo, but even their new payments were a struggle, and after two months Teresa called United Way's 211 service, which put her in touch with the Jewish Family and Children's Service. The JFCS helped them make a mortgage payment, and gave them financial advice for the future. They managed to keep their home and "we are surviving and paying our bills," said Teresa

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Anslee Willett reports for the Gazette in Colorado Springs, Colo. [http://www.gazette.com/articles/stabbing-90619-having-continuous.html], that Marti, who preferred to keep her last name private, was out of work for three months after her husband found her collapsed on their living room floor with intestinal ulcers. While she was recovering, the family could not pay all of their bills, and were almost evicted. Marti and her husband have three children.

They turned to Ecumenical Social Ministries [http://www.ecusocmin.org/], a charity receiving grants from the Empty Stocking Fund [http://www.fillanemptystocking.org/], a project partly organized by the Gazette. Marti's family was given some money to help with the rent, as well as emergency food and future access to their food bank. They still struggle, but the ESM's aid helped them to stay in their home.

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Brain Wofford and his eight children, who house from the TV show "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition" was going into foreclosure [http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/11/30/family-helped-by-extreme_n_374650.html], were granted some extra time to negotiate with the bank, reports the San Diego Untion-Tribune's Tanya Mannes [http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/2009/dec/15/makeover-family-trying-stave-foreclosure/]. The house was supposed to be sold Monday, but after media exposure the bank, OneWest, has delayed the sale until mid-January. Brian's daughter, Rebekah, said the family was prepared move out, if they need to: "We love our house, but it doesn't define us."