Sunday, December 05, 1999
Single father of two ill children needs appliances, furniture
BY CINDY SCHROEDER
The Cincinnati Enquirer
Ernest Lee Cherry with daughters Rebecca, 1, and Baylee, 2.
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As someone who has devoted most of his working life to helping others, Ernest Lee Cherry finds it difficult to ask for assistance.
“I've worked all my life, and I'm very uncomfortable going to somebody and saying I need some help,” Mr. Cherry said, as he sat in his sparsely furnished Covington apartment. “It's the most frustrating feeling to be wrapped up in the assistance cycle.”
A year ago, Mr. Cherry was the maintenance supervisor of an apartment building in Texas, in exchange for a free apartment and wages of $12.50 an hour.
That all changed when the 43-year-old engaged in a costly legal battle to obtain custody of his two toddler daughters.
In July, Mr. Cherry packed his possessions in the back of his 22-year-old pickup truck and moved his family to a relative's home in Newport.
The high school graduate soon realized that he needed more skills to land a higher-paying job, so he enrolled in a training program for building maintenance.
He was forced to take a leave from the training program, when 2-year-old Baylee had to have surgery to correct a problem in her spine, and 1-year-old Becca became ill.
By then, the family was living in their own apartment, after a brief stay in a homeless shelter.
To pay the $425-a-month rent, with only $262 in monthly public assistance, Mr. Cherry began selling his possessions at swap meets.
Only weeks away from finishing the job training program, Mr. Cherry says his needs are few.
He would like a stove to replace the one in his apartment that bears traces of the rodents that once lived in the oven.
He'd also like a new refrigerator to replace the one that came with his apartment — a roach-infested appliance with a faulty seal.
If possible, Mr. Cherry also would like a dresser or two, so that he doesn't have to store his daughters' clothes in baskets. And with his truck needing major repairs, he could benefit from donated repair work, or a used vehicle large enough to transport two children in car seats.
“I came up here with my tools, my skills, and a desire to better myself,” he said. “I didn't come up here to be on public assistance.”
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