- My next guess does it all.
She's a single mom of two young kids
and takes care of her 82 year old grandmother
Who suffers from dementia.
She's a bartender and restaurant manager.
And industry especially hard hit
in the wake of the financial crisis.
Like many she is facing uncertainty
after losing her job when the country
shutdown, meet Ariel y'all.
- Hi Kelly, my name is Ariel.
I'm 34 years old and I am from eastern Kentucky.
I have two little girls, Aubrey who is 7
and Ally who's three.
I'm a manager and a bartender at a local bar.
But because of the COVID situation,
I've been unable to work since March 14th.
I'm really worried and really unsure
about what will happen if my unemployment
runs out before I go back to work.
I'll do whatever it takes to make sure
that my family is taken care of.
I've put so much hard work into making
this house a home and I'm not sure what
I will do if I don't get my job back soon.
Its been a very scary time for us.
But I have so many people who depend on me
and its making me even more overwhelmed
and nervous about the future.
- All right, well we actually have Ariel along
with her daughters Aubrey and Alley on the line
Hello!
- Hi Kelly!!!
- So Ariel, I want to start with you,
what was your life like before
the economy collapsed.
- Um, it was really great.
I was very,very busy all the time.
I loved my job but you know having the
two girls and then I'm also the caregiver
for my grandmother, um, that made my life
super crazy. Um, we live in eastern Kentucky
so we live in a holler which is a street
between two mountains. And we have like
a garden, the girls have lots of room
to play, so its really nice.
- So um Ariel like, what kind of cutbacks
have you had to make?
- You know, I've been getting by, um,
luckily, but literally my credit card debt
is ridiculous, it's like almost $8,0000.
And then, Um, I've also had to use all my savings
for bills and stuff like that.
So basically,
I just watch every single penny that I spend.
I just make sure that, you know, we have
our basic needs met and that's basically
about it.
- Yeah, that, that, its what I'm hearing from
a lot of people, um, in this crisis
a lot of people, dipping, lucky if they
have savings, when they do have savings,
they are going through it so fast.
- Yes
- Um, this is unprecedented, kind of what's
going on with everybody so, I mean,
Ariel, you say one upside to everything
is you are actually do get to
spend more time with your daughters though right.
- Oh definitely, definitely.
And we love it. We um, when this first started
we all, it was a little bit hard for all of us
because we had to get in to a new routine.
Um, and now we literally have,
we get up every morning, we make breakfast,
we play outside, we do crafts, we have girl time
and paint our nails and um,
so we've really been enjoying this time together.
But I don't know what were going to do
when life goes back to normal.
Because now they don't want to leave.
(Laughter)
- Yeah, I will say though hey,
kiddos, this is for Aubrey and Ally like,
do you love having this time with your mom,
are you excited about at least getting her
by yourself.
- Mhm, yeah
- Yeah, I mean your mom, I mean crafting
and doing nails, I'm down too.
Your mom sounds awesome.
- (Laughter) we try to have fun and stay busy so.
- That's good, I know that's what every momma
out there is trying to do
because when you're kids aren't busy
they are usually in trouble.
Um,
(Laughter)
Well Ariel, I mean clearly as much as you're
enjoying your family and you're dealing
with a lot of uncertainty, um,
June is national homeowners month and so
we want to make sure you keep that
beautiful roof over your head and
that's why were actually going to be
covering your mortgage for the rest of the year.
- Oh my god!
(laughter)
Thats so great!
- Well we just, we don't want you to
worry too, I know there's already so many
other worries, and its hard enough being a mom.
And you're also taking care of a grandma,
like there is a lot on your plate right now
and so, I mean do you feel good about that?
- Thank you so much
- No, yeah, and I'm so jealous of you,
in between two mountains like street that
you all live on.
It sounds magical and I want
to write a story about it.
- You can come
You can come visit any time you want to.
- All right, I like Kentucky
Don't, don't invite me
(Laughter)
- All right, well thank you so much Ariel,
Thank you Aubrey and Ally for letting us
take y'alls time all right?
- Bye....
- All right Bye...