The loss of my husband’s job could not have come at a worst time for us. I work part-time at a supermarket, and the way the economy is my hours were further cut.

The unemployment checks we received helped a great deal, and we were able to survive. But our nightmare began after the year was up, and my husband was told he could only get unemployment for six more months.

He found a job, which doesn’t pay very much, but it’s the only thing he could find. Our bills are mounting, and we can barely survive on what we are earning.

Right now we are taking care of my mother-in-law who has Alzheimer’s and had a stroke last year. She lives with us, and we are paying out of our own pockets all her medicines and personal items she needs to live.

We could certainly use an extension in the Emergency Unemployment Compensation fund. To Congress I say, PLEASE HELP US!

Thank you for letting us share our story!

Elisanta Batista is the salad bar clerk at the Shaw’s Supermarket in Derry, New Hampshire. She is also a wife, mother to four children, including MomsRising outreach specialist Elisa Batista, and grandmother to two children.