From the Editor: Bayou Vista father wonders what happens when unemployment runs out

Nicholas Judd of Bayou Vista wants to know where to turn.
As he and other St. Mary residents lose the $600 enhanced unemployment benefit, others may be asking the same question soon.
Judd, 26, had been receiving the extra $600 a week in unemployment pay, a benefit enacted along with the rest of the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act. The enhancement expired Friday, and Congress has yet to reach agreement on an extension or how much the enhancement will be from now on.
Judd had actually been laid off from his job at AMPOL before COVID emerged. He was laid off in January when he began to miss work to help care for his godmother, who fell ill. Her husband is also struggling with a shoulder injury that will soon require surgery again.
His six months of unemployment eligibility ran out about the same time as the authorization for the extra $600 a week.
He looked for work, but “because of COVID, there wasn’t any work,” Judd said last week.
The bills for his blended family of six include $700 in rent and at least $210 in utilities. The $247 a week in pre-COVID unemployment bills didn’t cover those bills, Judd said.
“The extra $600 helped a lot,” Judd said.
But it’s not enough to lure him away from work, he said.
“I don’t mind working,” Judd said. “You can ask my friends how I feel about work . …
“A job that pays $400 a week would be a blessing,” he said. “I’d take a job that paid $400 every two weeks.”
He has brought some income into the household by working part-time for an exterminator.
The low point for Judd came when he turned to the Louisiana Workforce Commission to ask what he’s supposed to do now that he has a family to support and his benefits have run out.
He feels that he got a combination of runaround and rude treatment.
A request for information from the Workforce Commission for its policy on the treatment of clients and appeal rules didn’t result in a reply.
Judd has a message for the commission:
“I exist,” he said. “And I pay your bills.”
Still, it’s not clear what the unemployment office could do to help Judd. The $600 enhancement is directed at people already eligible for unemployment, and Judd’s regular unemployment has expired.
St. Mary Parish’s June unemployment rate was 11.2%, according to the Workforce Commission. That was based on 2,147 people counted as unemployed. In June 2019, before the pandemic, fewer than 1,300 St. Mary people were unemployed.
Other local people may feel a different kind of squeeze when moratoriums on evictions and foreclosures expire.
The impact from the end of the $600 enhancement hasn’t yet resulted in an increase in applications for help at St. Mary Outreach, the local nonprofit that seeks to “assist patrons in their dire time of need, to prevent hunger and homelessness and strive to obtain adequate care for the needy.”
“If Congress doesn’t do something about the $600 benefit,” Executive Director Brenda Liner said, “we expect to see an increase. …
“We’re really hoping the ones who got the extra $600 were responsible and put some of that aside.”
Meanwhile, COVID-19 has slowed St. Mary Outreach fundraising. To help, you can call 985-385-0525. The mailing address is 608 First St., Suite 102, Morgan City LA 70380.

Expressions
of respect
At its July 28 meeting, the Morgan City Council paid tribute to a pair of people who advanced the cause of civil rights, one national, one local.
A moment of silence honored the memory of U.S. Rep. John Lewis, who was beaten on the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Alabama, and rose to the U.S. Congress.
And a resolution honored the memory of the Rev. Chrispin Smith, who died July 9.
Our obituary noted Smith’s long service at Mount Pilgrim Baptist Church, which was founded on land donated by a former slave-holder soon after the Civil War. Smith was pastor there for 56 years.
But we understated his other accomplishments, which were read by Mayor Frank “Boo” Grizzaffi at the end of Tuesday’s meeting.
Smith, a graduate of Morgan City’s segregated high school, earned a Ph.D. and taught in the St. Mary Parish school system for three years.
He served on the Alcoholic and Drug Abuse Program of St. Mary Parish, the Morgan City and Acadiana health planning boards, the St. Mary Retarded Program, the Morgan City Recreation Department, the Morgan City Charter Committee, the Young Memorial Advisory Board, the Fifth District Baptist Association and the finance and enrollment committees of the National Baptist Association and the Inter-Denominational Ministers Alliance.
The resolution called for “all those in attendance at this meeting rise and bow their heads in silent prayer out of respect for the late Dr. Chrispin Finnegan “C.F.” Smith Sr. …”
Bill Decker is managing editor of The Daily Review.