Women History Month: Overcoming Challenges and Making a Difference in Montana

This Women’s History Month, No Kid Hungry’s Adrienne Carter sat down with Jessica, a graduate of Amplify Montana, a program of No Kid Hungry Montana, is a community-driven initiative to build the leadership and advocacy skills of people who have experienced poverty and food insecurity first-hand.  They discussed how her life--like that of so many other women--has been impacted by the Coronavirus crisis, her experience with Amplify, and what has given her hope in this unprecedented time. 

How has the COVID crisis impacted your family?

Amplify Montana Logo

It’s been impacted in a huge way. My company was bought out by a big company and they told us everything would stay the same. In the midst of it, this new company took all of our benefits, and I worked in human resources so I knew it was illegal.

Knowing it was illegal, I chose to leave. I filed a report with the Montana Department of Labor and Industry, and I won that case, but even that, it took, I want to say, four and a half months before I was able to get my unemployment approved. For months with no income, it was certainly hard.

I have been applying for jobs, updating my online resume constantly, and sharing my 11 years of experience as a director of operations, but I haven’t been able to find anything as of yet and that’s how I ended up being involved in Amplify Montana and legislative testimony, and I feel like I am making a difference and I do have a voice.

What are your days like with your family now?

It’s hard, we’ve been locked in the house since last March, and it’s a joint house with my parents—my father’s 75 and he has COPD and my mother is 65 and she has lung issues. We don’t eat out so I’m cooking all the meals for everybody all the time and trying to keep us healthy and being a full-time single mom that never gets a break.

​  Quote graphic ​It’s hard to have to tell your son that you can’t go down to the public playground, that you can’t go to the little playhouse that we used to go to for him to have fun"

It’s hard to have to tell your son that you can’t go down to the public playground, that you can’t go to the little playhouse that we used to go to for him to have fun over there. We can’t get together with friends.

I try to stay really positive and find different things to do. And for me, it’s a learning opportunity with my son. He knows his ABCs and he can count to two hundred. But the house is always a mess, just sanitizing everything and cooking feels like a full-time job.

Then on top of that, anytime you need assistance with anything like food stamps or anything of this constant, constant paperwork, fax machines don’t work. You’re waiting on a phone number for two and three hours to get through to unemployment if you can even get through.

In a dark time, what has given you hope and inspired you?

I got re-certified as a Zumba instructor. It’s like $25 a class. It’s not like I can make a living doing Zumba unless I taught 25 classes a week, and that’s not sustainable, but it’s been inspiring.

The people that you’re teaching are all reaching for a common goal and I’ve actually formed some really good relationships.  

It is different. I’m used to running a company and not teaching a three-year-old 2 + 2 in his head, but I know in the long run I’ll look back and be thankful for it.

Talk a little more about your experience with Amplify Montana.

We have different speakers coming in to teach us how to be an advocate and how to use our voice to make a difference. I think this is huge, especially when you don’t feel like you’re giving a lot of value to the world. They keep us very well in the loop as far as upcoming bills and testimonies that they feel our stories have an impact.

Those things are empowering and give us something to feel like we’re doing something at home, that we can make a difference and that our struggles are not something that we should be ashamed of. Poverty isn’t a choice. It can happen to someone who has fallen on unprecedented times. This is what it looks like. It can look like this for any of you who are six months of no paycheck away from disaster.

What would you say to other women in your position?

This is just a moment—and it’s a tough moment, and it’s not like anything we’ve experienced in our lifetimes, but you can always rise from a moment. And it doesn’t mean that this is the end of you being able to be successful. It means maybe this is a chance for you to take a different road or to invest the time into your children. They grow so fast, so enjoy the moments, and watch them blossom, watch them learn and grow.

Know that it’s part of what you’re doing and that you can have a voice. You can still do something to make a change. All you have to do is try to get out of your own way and not be afraid.

Quote graphic from text from the post. "You can still do something to make a change. All you have to do is try to get out of your own way and not be afraid."