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Lend a Hand: Quincy mother of two needs help keeping the lights on

The Patriot Ledger - 12/9/2019

BROOKE'S STORY

Brooke and her daughter were living with Brooke's brother three years ago when he abruptly moved out, sticking her with his share of the electric bill. It's haunted her ever since.

While working as a convenience store manager and working toward a high school equivalency diploma, Brooke has made several lump payments to the utility to try to keep the lights on – with mixed success – but the debt keeps mounting. Paying down the debt has only gotten more difficult in the last year as Brooke, now 29, became pregnant and had to cut back her hours at the convenience store. She gave birth to a son three months ago but hasn't been able to get back to work full time because she can't afford to put him in child care.

Brooke gets child support from her son's father, but the father of her daughter, now 14, hasn't made a payment in more than a year. She says she's stressed out about the debt and continues to get shut-off notices.

WHAT BROOKE NEEDS

If she had the money to pay off this 3-year-old debt, Brooke says she would be able to pay her monthly bill and not have the debt hanging over her.

Source line: Source: Information for this story was provided by Quincy Community Action Programs. Names may have been changed to protect privacy.

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