When Toya Maddox passes by a Salvation Army Red Kettle this year, she probably won’t toss anything in. But when she gets back on her feet, Maddox vows to help The Salvation Army anyway she can.
“I didn’t know all they do,” said this 43-year-old Southside mother of a teenage girl who lost her job of 11 years this June, after being diagnosed the previous October with cancer, and still is in treatment.
Maddox was in shock. She had never been fired before, nor let go, nor laid off. This was new, and it wasn’t comfortable.
Providence put Maddox in the sights of The Salvation Army, when a friend called to ask how she was doing, and then told her to call The Salvation Army immediately. “Don’t be too proud to ask for help,” her friend had insisted.
The Salvation Army helped Maddox, with rent, her Cobra payments, and utility payments. “The Salvation Army assistance gave me a little leeway, a little cushion. It was a blessing,” she said.
“You have all this one day, and it is gone the next,” she said. Unemployment and a small amount of child support doesn’t make ends meet, and she makes just enough to be disqualified for food stamps.
Maddox always told her daughter not to judge people, who were on the street. “They weren’t born on the street,” she says, never thinking she would need help too.
The Salvation Army kicks off its annual Red Kettle Campaign Nov. 13, with the state unemployment rate the highest it has been in 26 years – 10.5 percent in September.
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Jordanka Lazarevic, 773-885-3433