Thursday, January 23, 2014

LaGuardia Airport ID checker survives on church pantry

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Julia Xanthos/New York Daily News



Lenora McKeever says she lives in a Section 8-subsidized apartment that costs her $ 311 a month. But she has been struggling to keep up and now owes $ 3,999 in back rent. ‘I’m in a pit, and I can’t get out,’ she said.




Lenora McKeever isn’t asking for much.


All the 51-year-old LaGuardia Airport ID checker wants is a job that allows her to pay her bills and fill her stomach.


RELATED: AIRPORT WHEELCHAIR AGENTS TO GET LESS THAN MINIMUM WAGE


With the $ 8.25 an hour she makes now, she’s often forced to rely on the food pantry below her South Bronx church to eat.


“Thank God for the pantry,” McKeever said.


RELATED: THOUSANDS OF AIRPORT WORKERS MAKE MINIMUM WAGE, NO BENEFITS


McKeever said she nets about $ 260 a week and lives in a Section 8-subsidized apartment that costs her $ 311 a month. But she has been struggling to keep up and now owes $ 3,999 in back rent.


“I’m in a pit, and I can’t get out,” said McKeever, who has a 25-year-old disabled son.


RELATED: AIRLINES GETS $ 2.7B IN LOANS, WORKERS GET LOW-WAGE JOBS


It hasn’t always been this way for McKeever.


She said she used to make decent money working for the city and the Ramada Inn hotel chain.


RELATED: DE BLASIO PROMISES TO HELP LOW-WAGE AIRPORT WORKERS


“I’ve done all kinds of jobs — jobs that treated its employees like they were somebody,” she said.


Lacking health insurance, McKeever hasn’t seen a doctor in two years. “I’m walking by faith,” she said. “I pray that I don’t become homeless.”





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