Social Safety nets and the story

Shared Via The Richardson Family Charity (http://ricahrdsoncharity.webs.com/apps/blog/)

It has been asked recently, why do the Richardson's and their son don't go to the welfare office.  There are safety nets in place to ensure people like the Richardson family do not spend their lives living in a tent.  Their son, does not have any children, therefore he does not qualify for social aid.  Mr. and Ms. Richardson earn too much money. See the problem is that social welfare is based on your income, and how many children you have.  So when you have no children, or income beyond a specific point, you do not get aid.  You fall through the holes of social aid.  Sure Mr. Richardson has his social security; he has his retirements from his previous employment, but that income places him outside of the range for other social programs.



If you have a heart, and I am sure we all do even if it is tainted by the hard lives we have led, you are asking how did this happen.  As briefly mentioned on a previous page, the Richardson's attempted to buy their last home from the Church of God in Pineville West Virginia.  The house, unknown to the Richardson's when they moved into the house, was infested with Brown Recluse spiders, and full of toxic black mold.  These issues were pointed out to the Reverend of the church, and he agreed that the home needed work, but the church could not afford it.  He used his influence as a "Man of God" to sucker the husband into sinking the entirety of his savings in to the home, while promising to work with the family, and taking the cost off the home, as he acknowledged that the home would not appraise or pass a home inspection.  The reverend later found out that the Richardson's were Jewish, and were not willing to convert to Christianity.  Sadly, this led to several other forms of harassment.  Such as the family enduring chants of "Jesus killer", various other racially slurs, and on at least one verified occasion a man coming to the home brandishing a firearm threatening to kill Ms. Richardson if they did not leave the home.  You ask how Zaferatos comes into this.  You see the real estate agent who worked for the Richardson's was an agent for that company.  The Richardson's also worked with this agent to find another home to purchase, but with their funds rapidly depleting, they were shown the worst of the worst.  In one home, the son fell through a floor, and when Ms. Richardson or her son complained about the quality of the home, they were told that said home was "fit for a Jew".

Ultimately, they attempted to work out an arrangement with the church, as they were unable to find any other homes that were in better condition.  Any arrangements they offered were soundly refused, and proceedings were started to evict the Richardsons from the property.  Not for failure to pay rent, every month the rent was paid on the first, all six hundred dollars’ worth.  They were evicted for breach of contract, on a dead contract.  That is right, when they moved into the home, the contract had already expired, they were renting month to month, while they fixed the home enough that it would pass a home inspection, and appraisal.  After all was said and done, they were evicted, and promised by the Bishop of that church they would be made whole.  Ultimately, they were not made whole; in fact, their son used all the money he had to prop up his parents while they were being made whole.  How many of you would cast a blind eye towards your parents?  He went down with his parents, spending every dime he had to help them.

So where does that leave us.  Shortly after these events, the son lost his job, leaving him with no income, nothing to fall back on; he spent it to help his parents.  All three had nothing to fall back on, all of their savings evaporated, leaving them with all that they had in their checking account.  All and all, three thousand dollars a month does not go far in this country anymore, it is worse when half of the income you receive goes for essential medications, and your credit is completely destroyed.  When you have no income coming in, you cannot pay your bills, and the cycle of discrimination continues.  Not only are these people guilty of being “dirty Jews”, now they are poor, with bad credit.  They need help, they must have help, they must be made whole and while this is playing out in the court system, they have nothing to look forward to, except a once a month meal from a food bank, cold weather, and more threats against them.