Working — and poor

City family struggles to make ends meet

By Paul Monies, Business Writer
   Lodis Harris expected to spend his day off last Monday at home with his family, maybe playing with his 20-monthold daughter, Kimberly, and catching up on some sleep.
   Instead, he climbed ladders and cleaned gutters in the August heat for extra money so the Harris family could pay its bills — or at least try to. His biweekly paycheck from a fast-food restaurant in Oklahoma City didn’t have the 80 hours he expected, meaning the family didn’t have enough money to pay rent.
   Harris makes $6.50 an hour as a cook. He bikes about 10 blocks to work because the family doesn’t own a car.
   If everything goes right with his schedule, Harris brings home $390 each pay period for 80 hours of work. He is the sole breadwinner for a family of five: his wife, Lori; daughter, Kimberly; and two teenage stepsons, ages 14 and 16.
   The Harris family is among the estimated 460,000 Oklahomans living at or below the poverty level. The state’s poverty rate rose in 2005 to 13.2 percent, up from 11.8 percent in 2004, according to Census Bureau data released last week. For the Harrises, it wasn’t supposed to be like this. But medical emergencies, mounting bills and frustration over the end of too-good-to-be-true jobs have derailed their dreams.
   It means Lodis Harris, 41, wears torn shirts so his 14-year-old stepson can have football cleats. It means paying someone with a car $5 for a trip to the grocery store. It means cooking meals in a microwave and a crock pot because the gas stove isn’t connected. It means eating in shifts because diapers are more important than spending money on a matching set of plates.
   “It does put a strain on our relationship, but not a day goes by that we don’t say, ‘Goodnight. I love you,’ before going to sleep,” Lori Harris, 36, said.

Gone to Oklahoma    

Lori and Lodis met in Aurora, Colo., in 2002. They’ve been together since their first date. After they married, Lodis Harris continued working on gutters, while Lori Harris did bookkeeping and clerical work at her parents’ restaurant. Both are high school graduates.
   When Lori got pregnant, Lodis wanted her to have the baby — his first child — in his native Oklahoma. In August 2004, the couple took an 18-hour bus ride to Oklahoma City, where they stayed with Lodis’ parents. They planned to be there just a short time until Lodis could make enough money. Then they could move out, and he could start a small business cleaning gutters.
   “In Colorado, he could clean one or two gutters a day and make $150,” Lori Harris said. “But the houses down here don’t have as many gutters or need them cleaned as much. We put in applications everywhere, and he got a job at County Line (restaurant) as a night dishwasher.”
   Kimberly Harris was born Dec. 26, 2004. Although the Harrises appreciated help from Lodis’ parents, the new family wanted to strike out on their own. By March 2005, they had rented a 600-square-foot house at a cul-de-sac on NE 20.
   While walking through the neighborhood one day, a man approached the Harrises. He promised to pay them both $10 an hour if they came to work for him. Lori Harris did clerical work, while Lodis Harris did odd jobs and picked up donations for the man’s nonprofit organization.
   “It was a dream come true,” Lori Harris said. “I could walk to work. We both worked at the same place, and he let me bring my baby to work.”
   The Harrises felt financially secure, so Lori arranged for her two boys, who were staying with relatives in Colorado, to move to Oklahoma. (She asked they not be identified for this story.)
   But it was too soon. Their jobs ended suddenly in June, with no explanation, and the Harrises were owed hundreds of dollars in back pay.
GO TO END
Back to gutters    

Lodis Harris went back to cleaning gutters, then briefly worked in housekeeping for a nearby nursing home. By that time, Lori’s teenage sons had made it to Oklahoma. The family needed more money to live on. But with no car and no money for day care, someone had to look after Kimberly.
   “We made a deal that whoever got a job first would stay at it, and the other would take care of the baby,” Lori Harris said.
   In September, she found a job as head cashier for $5.75 an hour at a nearby fast-food restaurant. Lodis Harris stayed home to take care of Kimberly and cleaned gutters when he could.
   The family, already crowded into their small rent house, moved in February to a bigger, three-bedroom house off North Lottie Avenue. Rent was $420 a month, almost $50 a month more than the Harrises were paying. The house was bigger, but it still had problems, such as a 2-inch gap under the front door.
   “This house we’re in is beneath our standards, but we don’t have the money to leave,” Lori Harris said.

Employer's Ploy To Avoid Workman's Comp Expense
   Lori Harris lost her job in June. She had missed several days after having an allergic reaction to spider bites. One night after counting out her till, she fell out of a rolling chair and injured her hand. Her employer, afraid she’d file a workers’ compensation claim, began cutting her hours until she quit.
   The family had no income for five weeks as Lodis Harris looked for work. A month ago, he found a job as a cook. Lori Harris saved $20 from her last paycheck to buy Lodis an anniversary present — a bicycle. 

Paying the bills    

It’s the end of the month and Lori Harris is worried. Lodis is supposed to get off at 2 p.m. so the couple can go over which bills to pay. Turns out his replacement never showed up, so he has to work another few hours.
   On a break, he comes home to good news: Lori just heard about a possible job helping the elderly at a nearby day shelter. The hours are flexible, allowing her to work on Lodis’ off days or on opposite shifts. She can take the bus, even though they stop at 6 p.m. or 7 p.m. most nights.
   “I want a job. I want to go to work,” she said. “Sitting here looking at these walls is killing me because I see the struggle my husband goes through.”
   Lori Harris pulls out a ledger and a calendar of bill payments made with the help of a case worker at Catholic Charities. The family started the month owing $590 in past due rent and unpaid bills. With Lodis’ job, they made $515 in August.
   After paying $200 for two weeks’ rent, the couple is faced with another round of choices: Making payment arrangements on a gas bill of $103. Paying $100 on a $137 water bill. Finding money for school uniforms for her teenage boys. Still, they owe $636 to get caught up.
   “It’s not hard to get behind,” Lori Harris said. “It’s hard to get caught up. We don’t have many arguments over money because everyone knows we’re broke. I just want to start from zero.”
   Despite the hardship, the couple are grateful for the help they get from Catholic Charities and their pastor, Claude Woody, at Garden Addition Baptist Church. Most of their furniture has been donated. Catholic Charities recently arranged delivery of a donated washer and dryer so they don’t have to spend $40 a week at the laundromat.
   Government programs help, too. Each month, the Harrises receive $601 in food stamps to feed their family of five. That’s supplemented by trips to the food bank for canned and other non-perishable foods. The children qualify for Medicaid. It won’t pay for a orthodontal visit for Lori’s 14-year-old to get his braces off.
   “The boys are so good,” Lori Harris said. “They don’t complain. They see the struggle. It’s not like money is just flying out the window. It’s just not here in the first place.”
   In waiting rooms at the Department of Human Services, Lori Harris said she’s been encouraged to lie about her marriage status to get more benefits. It’s something she won’t do.
   Balling his hand into a fist, Lodis Harris said the family is stronger as a unit. He wants to set a good example for his stepsons and care for his family. “I struggle hard with it,” Harris said as he played with Kimberly before heading back to work. “I don’t have any problem doing it. I take extra jobs to make ends meet, but the government taxes that money too. I was born in Oklahoma City. It’s cheaper living, but they don’t pay you money you can live on.”

The Daily Oklahoman, Sept. 3, 2006  BACK TO TOP