Poverty Case - Paycheck-To-Paycheck - Eric Miller

Mr. Clark, Comp. 1

Formal Essay #1 (Final Draft)

02.09.11

Paycheck-to-Paycheck

A popular phrase when out with friends is "I'm so broke." However, it's just a figure of speech, right? Most of us are fortunate enough to be well off with finances and have the luxury to have a little shopping spree here and there occasionally. But for the Millers that's not the case at all. They have to live paycheck-to-paycheck and barely make ends meet. The town of Wanaque, New Jersey is very small, three miles long to be exact. But in this small town there are all types of social and economic classes from very poor to very wealthy. A family with a set of twins and another child just hitting elementary school would certainly be affected by this economy, yet the Millers still fight to keep their family functional.

People take many things for granted like food, water, and shelter. Most of us can simply pay our utilities bills, sleep under a safe roof, and go grocery shopping when your refrigerator is empty. For the Millers it's a different story. Anna Miller, mother of three, works part-time as a nanny for two homes and in retail. Eric Miller has been working at the same job for the past six years, and although he gets a holiday bonus every Christmas, he has never gotten a raise. Their three kids, twins Jason and Justin, and third child Jared are all attending the middle school in town. The family lives on the outskirts of our town in a neighborhood that's not so great. They live in a tiny two-bedroom apartment above a post office and are supplied with food stamps so they are able to provide their family with food. And with their low income, their utilities have been shut off a few times. In times like these when they are so frustrated Anna sometimes breaks down to Eric: " I don't think I can take having our power shut off; it's destroying good food and we can't afford to keep buying new food 4 times a week." Eric would comfort her by saying "It's tough now, but we have three children that we have to be strong for and we can't let them see we're weak because then they might think something is wrong and they're too young to understand what's going on. And pretty soon this will pass and we'll be able to get on with our lives. You have to look at what we're doing here from another perspective. We're making our situation work, and we're battling it out when most people would just drop and give up. You are a strong woman and together, you and I can do this."