By Michael Hill
Correspondent
The Worrell family hopes 2015 brings better fortunes than last year, after Robert’s hours as a Harrah’s cook were cut to a fraction. In September, his wife, Ngoc lost her job when the Revel shuttered.
“It’s kind of discouraging that you don’t know what you’re going to have week to week, don’t know if I’m going to have my benefits month to month, don’t know what we’re going to get for a paycheck. A lot of times I have to depend on unemployment cause we file partial unemployment,” Robert said.
Robert says the mortgage, car and health insurance bills get paid first. Electric, gas, cable and internet go on credit cards that he hopes to pay off in the summer when he gets more hours.
“We cut corners everywhere we can. We save whatever we can, we just started going to the food bank,” Robert said.
First for his disabled sister who lives with them and then for themselves.
When asked if he thought in his adult life that it would reach this point that he would have to go to the food bank, Robert said, “No, I never thought of that.”
Ngoc Worrell is an extreme coupon clipper, so the family barters with the food bank.
“If we get more than enough for example cereal, she bought 40 boxes of cereal, 40 boxes of cereal would last us forever. She only spent 16 cents a box. We’re not going to keep it in our basement for the next eight months. So it’s better if we can donate it to somebody who can use it,” Robert said.
“This is just the tip of the iceberg,” said Evelyn Benton.
Benton runs the Community FoodBank’s southern branch and applauds the Worrells and welcomes all donations, especially now as giving traditionally slows down the first quarter of the new year. But the demand now has grown so much, the food pantry has to open an extra day a week.
“So I really see this as a multi-year, if not, in my opinion, at least a decade before this area starts to recover from this,” Benton said.
“We’re barely holding on as it is but a lot of people are worse off,” said Robert.
The Worrells says they give the food bank as much as they can because they know the food bank is only as reliable charity as the donations it receives.
“It’s just the way the world should work,” said Robert.
Robert’s hour still fluctuate from month to moth. His wife is now waiting tables one day a week.
Robert went from full-time at Harrah’s to two days a week and then four days a week. His wife is planning to go back to school.
When asked if she’s pretty much had it with the ups and downs of the industry, Robert said, “Right, she’s pretty much getting out of that.”
Whether he makes a decision on what he want to do, Robert said, “Oh I want to go back to school, try to get a business degree or something on that line. But she’s got to get her education first. So once she gets an education and gets out there, then I can go back to school.”
Robert says his 22 years in the casino industry have taught him it’s a gamble as to how long the good times will roll here even for the casinos that withstood a disastrous 2014.