Having endured a couple of Minnesota winters, Dana Good was ready for Chattanooga's 2022 Christmas chill.
But she wasn't prepared to lose a new job and, possibly, her home, despite help that's on the way from the Times Free Press Neediest Cases Fund through United Way of Greater Chattanooga.
"We know (the money) is coming Jan. 9," said Good, 40. "My landlord says that with that promise of payment, and the fact that it's coming from United Way, that she'll do everything in her power to keep that from happening.
"But she also said that if her higher ups tell her she has to serve an eviction notice, she'll have to do it," Good said.
Born and raised near Jackson, Tennessee, Good said she's logged 15 years in the hospitality industry. She said she spent eight of those years at at the executive level, mainly in catering management in the Nashville area and at Fort Campbell, Kentucky.
In early 2020, she said, she took a hospitality job in Minnesota, where she has a sister. Good said she initially moved to her sister's home, but in March, before she could find a place of her own, the global pandemic slowed or stopped business all over the world.
"When (the pandemic) came, my job went with it," Good recalled. "I spent COVID in Minnesota and just kind of made lemonade from lemons for two years."
This past fall, she said, she was offered a hospitality position in Chattanooga. She said that, besides being ready to resume her career, she didn't want to spend another winter in Minnesota.
"The lowest it got was 62 below zero," she said, "and that was air temperature, not wind chill. I got the first snow boots I'd had since I was 5 years old. Mittens, too -- I'd had gloves, of course, but never mittens."
The job in Chattanooga didn't work out.
Good said it didn't take long to exhaust her resources, and she got behind on her rent. She said a friend at a Chattanooga-area nonprofit steered her toward United Way and, ultimately, help from Neediest Cases and other United Way-administered funds.
"She started reaching out to people and places she knew," said Good, who added that it looks like a quirk of the holiday season will delay her help.
"United Way cuts checks on Mondays, and the next two Mondays are holidays," she said last week, referring to the observance of Christmas and New Year's, which fall on Sundays. And she said that while the funds she's due from United Way will cover her rent for December, she remains on the hook for January's rent.
United Way Program Manager Brittany Lockwood said covering rent with a check can take two to three weeks, but a time lapse of that length doesn't necessarily doom a tenant's chances.
"We work with property management teams to provide a legal promise to pay, to help prevent the formal eviction process from starting," Lockwood said in an email. "We're hopeful this will provide Dana the support she needs to navigate this moment of crisis and get back on her feet."
(READ MORE: Times Free Press Neediest Cases Fund 'changed life' of Hixson's Bryant Ellis)
Good said that, although she can't buy groceries at present, she's bullish on the future.
"I've been looking very hard (for work) in my field," she said, "and I am not incapable."
The Times Free Press Neediest Cases Fund was started in 1914 by Adolph Ochs, then the publisher of the Chattanooga Times. The Fund receives donations from Times Free Press readers. Money is administered and distributed to individuals and families in need by the United Way of Greater Chattanooga and partner agencies. Recipients must be working or on a fixed income and be able to demonstrate ongoing stability and self-sufficiency after receiving Neediest Cases funds.
According to United Way figures, the Neediest Cases Fund took in $81,000 last year and, in turn, helped 79 adults and 61 children in 54 households. Neediest Cases money went in 2020 to 60 adults and 40 children in 42 households.
Contact Bob Gary at bgary@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6731.