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By Jacob Santini
Dan and Judi Waechter have spent their 21-year marriage putting money into savings, a retirement account and mutual funds.
Today, that money is gone. And the worst may be yet to come.
A year after losing their jobs, the couple still can't find steady work and they are facing the pending foreclosure of their home.
"Everyone's answer is bankruptcy," says Judi Waechter, 58. "It's not something you want to do at our age.
Never in their marriage -- which included raising seven children that Judi Waechter brought to the relationship -- have the Waechters been out of work for an extended period.
The numbers of "new poor" have been growing for several years. And community service providers are struggling to keep pace with the booming rate of Utahns failing to pay bills or put food on the table.
According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Utah has the highest rate of "food insecurity" -- a measure that reports the number of people who worry where their next meal is coming from -- in the nation.
The U.S. Census Bureau reports that the overall poverty rate in Utah jumped 1.1 percent between 2001 and 2002. Utah was was one of eight states the Census Bureau found had a "significant change" in its poverty rate.
Movement of the state's child poverty rate was even more staggering. In 2002, Utah's child poverty rate jumped 4.3 percentage points to 13.1 percent, according to the Census Bureau. Only Massachusetts had a more dramatic increase in the number of children living in poverty.
Utah still lags behind the rest of the nation when it comes to overall poverty, but the trend is ominous.
In October, food stamps were being used by 47,347 families, according to Utah's Department of Workforce Services, which administers the federally funded program. The figure represents 7,618 more families than a year earlier. (This represents a 19% increase)
Enrollment in the Women, Infants and Children program, which provides food staples such as milk, cheese, cereal and baby formula to low-income families, is on the rise, with 63,910 families enrolled at last count. In 2002, the program averaged 61,445 families at any one point in time.
In early November -- the first week the Salt Lake Community Action Program took calls for assistance with heating bills -- case managers booked 4,000 appointments for Salt Lake and Tooele counties. The calls were coming in so quickly that the Salt Lake CAP's phone system shut down.
"I just know as an agency we're struggling to keep up with the increased demand," said Sheila Walsh McDonald, a low-income advocate at Salt Lake CAP.
A year ago, poverty advocates warned that they would soon be overwhelmed by the growing number of people looking for assistance. Since then, state lawmakers have cut funding for social programs, and grants from private foundations have fallen along with the economy.
"There's a lot more people that are struggling than we've ever seen before and nonprofits are struggling to meet the demand," said Deborah Nielsen, the executive director of the United Way's Great Salt Lake Area chapter.
With few new jobs in Utah, the months ahead may even be worse than predicted.
"We've really been hit hard by the recession," the University of Utah's Perlich says. "Maybe some people who have been holding on are going to fall."
Many, like the Waechters, have been forced to cut their own safety nets.
"When we came into this we had excellent credit," Judi Waechter said. "We had savings. We had a 401(k). We had mutual funds. We've used it all."
They have turned to Salt Lake CAP for assistance and in turn had one mortgage payment made for them and received one month's worth of heating assistance.
Judi Waechter has declined to use a food pantry, a move she justifies by saying that families with young children need that assistance more than her.
The pair primarily survive on Dan Waechter's unemployment check, which is $60 more than their house payment, and by selling homemade beef jerky and crafts.
Still, they are on the verge of loosing their home to foreclosure. Utah's foreclosure rate is almost double that of the national average.
The only alternative to save their home may be filing for bankruptcy -- another inauspicious category in which Utah leads the nation.
"It can't go too much longer or the whole roof will fall in," Judi Waechter said. "Winter is coming and higher bills are going to be coming too."
Page Modified: November 24, 2003