THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, February 15, 1996 TAG: 9602150359
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A6 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY MATTHEW BOWERS, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH LENGTH: Medium: 69 lines
The Mendeses moved here from Boston looking for a better, safer life for the five children in their home. The last thing they expected was having to receive welfare benefits to provide that life.
Michael A. Mendes had been a carpenter and an auto mechanic, making almost $1,000 a week at times, enough that his wife could afford to stay home with the younger children.
Marion A. Mendes had been a $1,300-a-week restaurant manager in her native Bermuda before moving to Boston. ``It wasn't a problem for me to buy a pair of shoes for my son,'' she said.
In Hampton Roads, it took three months of filing applications daily at businesses from here to downtown Norfolk for the Mendeses to find work. Both are high school graduates, but the only openings they found paid the $4.25-an-hour minimum wage - $170 a week, before taxes - and offered few, if any, benefits.
``I started out at Payless'' Shoesource, Marion Mendes said, laughing. ``They pay less.''
She also worked at a video store, but had to quit when the youngest kids caught chickenpox and she had to stay home with them. She worked at a McDonald's restaurant. She worked with a cleaning company.
``Everything's minimum wage,'' she said. ``You work that hard, you can't even bring home enough to buy groceries.''
Michael Mendes discovered that he needed to be recertified to work as a mechanic in Virginia, but couldn't afford the required course. So he drove a delivery truck for an auto-parts company for nine months, also at minimum wage. He liked the work and his employer, but received no raise or benefits in that time.
``I got pats on the back and on the shoulder and everything,'' he said. ``It doesn't put food on the table.''
Despite their efforts, the Mendeses still needed food stamps and other public assistance to survive. This embarrassed them. They concluded that they weren't going to get anywhere working for someone else. So they decided to work for themselves.
In April 1995, Marion Mendes quit her job, picked up a business license and had business cards printed. Then she started trudging house-to-house in Virginia Beach, Chesapeake and Suffolk, offering her services as a house cleaner. Three months later she was busy enough that her husband quit his job to join her.
The Mendeses are still struggling, but not as much. They can pay their bills, from the rent on their townhouse to school necessities for the children, which include a niece and a cousin's child they're rearing. They still receive Medicaid for the children, food stamps - albeit a reduced amount - and subsidized day care.
They're saving a little, and looking forward to the day they won't need any public assistance. They want to buy another truck for their expanding business. Someday, they'd like to buy a house.
Right now, though, even necessities like medical insurance are out of reach. ``We can't afford to get sick,'' Marion Mendes said matter-of-factly.
Kay D. Mulligan, a Social Services social worker who has worked with the Mendeses, called them ``well-motivated'' like many of her clients. But she added that it's unusual for welfare recipients to start their own business.
``Minimum wage is not enough,'' Mulligan said. ``And they have a large family, which makes it more difficult.''
``We're not in the best position we could be in, but at least we can see the light at the end of the tunnel,'' Michael Mendes said.
``But we're coming off this, believe me,'' he added. ``We have been working. Extremely trying to do the right thing.'' by CNB