{"id":69207,"date":"2025-07-17T06:34:09","date_gmt":"2025-07-17T06:34:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/69207\/"},"modified":"2025-07-17T06:34:09","modified_gmt":"2025-07-17T06:34:09","slug":"veteran-mother-of-two-turns-to-plasma-donations-to-survive-after-federal-job-cuts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/69207\/","title":{"rendered":"Veteran mother of two turns to plasma donations to survive after federal job cuts"},"content":{"rendered":"

BEXAR COUNTY, Texas<\/strong> \u2013 A veteran mother of two is resorting to donating plasma to pay her bills after a federal government reduction in force<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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. <\/p>\n

KSAT spoke with Smith in March when she said that she wasn\u2019t sure how she would make ends meet. <\/p>\n

Later in May, Smith said that she received back-and-forth emails about which government agency is responsible for her unemployment. <\/p>\n

Now, it\u2019s July, and Smith still doesn\u2019t have a job; she\u2019s relying on an emergency plan to pay her bills on time. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt can be a little chaotic at times,\u201d Smith said. \u201cIt\u2019s definitely a hustle thing. It is very difficult. I\u2019ve seen a lot of people lose everything that they have and my goal is to not.\u201d<\/p>\n

Smith said she has been taking on several side hustles to prevent falling behind on bills.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf I gotta sell furniture or something, anything I have to do just to make sure I have whatever money I gotta have,\u201d Smith said. \u201cToday, I\u2019m going to donate plasma. If I don\u2019t, I\u2019m going to lose everything.\u201d<\/p>\n

Smith has been applying to jobs for months, and she has also applied for unemployment, but that\u2019s an uphill battle of its own.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe patent office has their own thing where they actually have to say it\u2019s OK for you to get the unemployment from them,\u201d Smith said. \u201cSo, you go through their people, and then they send it to the unemployment office.\u201d<\/p>\n

However, Smith said she hasn\u2019t received the full amount for her unemployment benefits due to a lack of communication from her former federal government job.<\/p>\n

She\u2019s not the only person struggling to find a new normal.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s unclear when this hardship will end, but Smith isn\u2019t giving up on trying.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m doing whatever I have to do because it\u2019s clear they\u2019re not sending my money,\u201d Smith said. \u201cI refuse to fall apart.\u201d <\/p>\n

More coverage of this story on KSAT<\/b><\/p>\n