May 8, 2020 ” You shall leave the corners of your field for the poor ”     Emor 23:22

While “Staying-at-Home”, we applaud the “essential” workers who permit us to have food and necessities, provide, at great personal risk, health services, deliveries, and municipal services, and who computer-educate our children. What is clear, however, is how few of these people have the blessings of guaranteed healthcare, retirement, sick pay, parental leave, child-care nor the ability to rely on savings in case they’re furloughed. And when the Payroll Protection loans expire next month, many more will be laid off. The CARES Act, extending unemployment benefits and granting them to “gig” workers, doesn’t begin to solve the societal problem of not insuring that middle to low-income and dependent Americans have these vital needs met. Denying these as basic rights punishes the working poor already enduring meager wages and job insecurity. Now, when so clearly we can see the bounties we reap from their labor, it’s time to advocate and fight so that every American’s needs are met in ways that most of us view as vital for ourselves and our own families.