Dear Editor:

You may know the woman who I am about to describe but you may not be acquainted with some details of her life.

Her tragedy was to mistake boyhood lust for manly love. After some years of marriage and several children, he left her. He works off the books to avoid paying child support.

Like most Mainers, she has a strong work ethic. Most of the time she manages to stitch together some part-time work or full time in sales or waiting tables. She is not lucky or well-connected enough to find work at one of the few restaurants where the tips are good. Instead she usually takes home barely enough to feed her children.

The jobs do not last long. Employers eventually let her go because she takes too much time off to care for her children. Child care consists of sympathetic members of her family who have their own busy lives.

You might think that there is some sort of welfare program she might qualify for, and there are some. Her children are covered by CHIP but she is not, although she might have if she lived in a state with expanded Medicaid. She gets food stamps but is sometimes greeted with disapproving stares and comments. With the other programs, the bureaucracy has become so dense, condescending, and suspicious of fraud that it is a significant chore to apply.

Housing is also a problem. Landlords are not very tolerant of late rents and the housing she can afford is small and barely habitable. The housing she does find is often some distance from work and her car is not very reliable.

Her life is a daily grind on her dignity and sanity. She does her best but often feels overwhelmed and alone. For all her hard work and struggles there is very little promise of joy in her life.

She is one of tens of thousands who struggle on similar paths. There is something you can do for her; in November you can vote YES on question 4.

Fred W. Nehring

Boothbay