Uncertainty, painted onto the landscape by the
numbers. And behind each one, a human being.
LISA VINES
When she lost her job, she wrestled with a flood
of emotions: shock, panic, then determination.
“I went into survival mode,” Vines says. “My faith
kicked in like a ninja.”
Her first task was to research every possible
government benefit. But even with that, she
turned to food banks to provide for herself and
her 8-year-old granddaughter, who shares her
home in Memphis, Tennessee.
Vines was stunned when she was laid off in
March from her sales job at a promotional
product company. She’d worked there 20 years.
“You think you’re going to be taken care of,”
she says.
A calm set in as Vines inventoried her life,
knowing she had a small savings and a home
she could sell. “I looked at my granddaughter
and said, ‘OK, we’re to get through it,’” she says.
She doesn’t know what the future holds. One
possibility: working for the same company,
but on a commission basis. But at 56, she has a
philosophy: “You learn what to worry about and
what to pray about.”
She’s confident a way forward will emerge. “I’ll
either be here or I’ll build my peace elsewhere,”
Vines says. “I can’t get wrapped up in the
unknowns when I have blessings in front of me.”
JARED SAIGH
He had a road map for his future. A new job in
his hometown in rural Michigan. A chance to use