BEXAR COUNTY, Texas – A veteran mother of two is resorting to donating plasma to pay her bills after a federal government reduction in force.
Ashley Smith, the mother of two children with chronic asthma, is going on four months without a job and no back pay from her federal government job.
KSAT spoke with Smith in March when she said that she wasn’t sure how she would make ends meet.
Later in May, Smith said that she received back-and-forth emails about which government agency is responsible for her unemployment.
Now, it’s July, and Smith still doesn’t have a job; she’s relying on an emergency plan to pay her bills on time.
“It can be a little chaotic at times,” Smith said. “It’s definitely a hustle thing. It is very difficult. I’ve seen a lot of people lose everything that they have and my goal is to not.”
Smith said she has been taking on several side hustles to prevent falling behind on bills.
“If I gotta sell furniture or something, anything I have to do just to make sure I have whatever money I gotta have,” Smith said. “Today, I’m going to donate plasma. If I don’t, I’m going to lose everything.”
Smith has been applying to jobs for months, and she has also applied for unemployment, but that’s an uphill battle of its own.
“The patent office has their own thing where they actually have to say it’s OK for you to get the unemployment from them,” Smith said. “So, you go through their people, and then they send it to the unemployment office.”
However, Smith said she hasn’t received the full amount for her unemployment benefits due to a lack of communication from her former federal government job.
She’s not the only person struggling to find a new normal.
According to ABC News, more than 1,000 employees were laid off from the U.S. Department of State on July 14. There was also an additional 2,000 employee cuts, both voluntarily and involuntarily, happening at the same time.
It’s unclear when this hardship will end, but Smith isn’t giving up on trying.
“I’m doing whatever I have to do because it’s clear they’re not sending my money,” Smith said. “I refuse to fall apart.”
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