WATSONTOWN -- Michelle Slavinsky lost her job recently after a series of employee cutbacks at a local hospital.
The 39-year-old registered nurse, mother of five and grandmother of one, has found it difficult to raise her family with her unemployment compensation and the disability payments received by her fiance, Kevin Houser, a retired police officer and detective who also served in the Marine Corps.
Experiences including serving as lead detective of a homicide investigation involving a 10-year-old girl, and serving in Beirut when it was bombed in the 1980s, have left him with a form of post-traumatic stress disorder.
Slavinsky has been interviewing for a position, but is finding it difficult to find anyone who is hiring. There have been many recent cutbacks on nursing positions, she said.
In addition to mortgage payments, and staying on top of utility bills, including gas to heat their home, Slavinsky said food for the seven people living in the home is a never-ending challenge.
“I could spend $200 a week on groceries, if not more, just to keep food in the house,” she said.
Slavinsky has lived with Houser for about four years. He has lived in the Watsontown home for 25 years.
They have an 18-month-old daughter, Mia.
Also living in the home are Slavinsky’s other children, 18-year-old Samantha, along with her 1-year-old son, Draylen; 15-year-old Jacob; and 11-year-old Callie, who Slavinsky just received custody of on Wednesday.
Her 20-year-old son Paul also stops by for food at times, she said with a laugh.
This is the first year Slavinsky has filled out an application to receive help from The Salvation Army.
“I asked for a little help, and they were grateful enough to help us,” she said.
The organization will help her family by providing them with a basket of food and gifts for the children.
“My kids aren’t really picky,” Slavinsky said. “For the most part, I think they’re pretty grateful for anything they get.”
Callie has been asking for an MP3 player, and Jacob a paintball gun. Overall, however, she said her children know what it means to make sacrifices. They had to make many after Slavinsky began nursing school in 2001, then worked to receive her licensed practical nurse and registered nursing certifications.
“They understand when I say we don’t have it, when we don’t have it,” she said. “It’s not because I don’t want to, but it’s because I can’t. We try to make the best with what we have.”
Recent donations to the fund are as follows: Bernard Wynn, Richfield, $40; Laurelton United Church of Christ Sunday School, Laurelton, $100; Phillip Miller, Montandon, $100; Grace Reformed Church of Troxelville Willing Workers, $100; Todd and Kimberly Brosius, Sunbury, $200;
Also, Roger and Nancy Curran, Lewisburg, $50; Lawrence and Katherine Smith, Freeburg, $100; Lynn Henry, Lewisburg, $100; David and Marlene Mensch, Lewisburg, $50; Roger and Dianna Spickler, Lewisburg, $100; Donna and Douglas Portzline, Middleburg, $250; Terry and Kathryn Bowers, Selinsgrove, $100; Eric, Dan Shirk and Bowers, in memory of Sharon Guyer, Selinsgrove, $40; and anonymous donations totaling $333.17.
_______________________________________________
Needy Family Fund
Donations go to buy food, clothing and gifts for the less fortunate in the Valley. Contributions are tax-deductible. The fund is sponsored by The Daily Item, Sunbury Broadcasting Corp. and Susquehanna Bank. Contributions may be taken to any Susquehanna Bank office or mailed to:
Needy Family Fund
Susquehanna Bank
400 Market St.
Sunbury, PA 17801
2009 goal: $75,000
News
Nurse struggles to feed family
- News
-
-
New Report: Large charitable donations on the rise
SEATTLE — Money donated by the nation's most chartable people is starting to catch up with pre-recession giving, thanks in part to some very large bequests from a few donors. The Chronicle of Philanthropy reports today in its annual report of the nation's most generous people that the top 50 donors made pledges in 2011 to give a total of $10.4 billion.
-
State Rep. William DeWeese convicted on five counts in corruption case
HARRISBURG — A jury today convicted a senior Democrat in the Pennsylvania House of Representatives on all but one of six charges in the latest corruption trial stemming from a five-year investigation into the use of taxpayers' resources for political purposes.
-
State gas-drilling bill may pass today
HARRISBURG — Pennsylvania's top-ranking state senator says he's hoping for a speedy vote in his chamber on sweeping legislation to impose a drilling fee and update safety regulations on the booming natural gas industry.
-
Senator warns of 'dramatic' and 'difficult' state funding cuts
HARRISBURG — Pennsylvania's top-ranking senator says he expects dramatic and difficult spending cuts in Gov. Tom Corbett's budget plan. Senate President Pro Tempore Joe Scarnati said Monday that Pennsylvanians should be prepared for a debate on how best to use tax dollars, and he warned that he can't envision lawmakers raising taxes to ease spending cuts.
-
'It's just amazing'
PAXINOS -- Eli Manning may have been the Super Bowl's Most Valuble Player, but Henry Hynoski was the name on everyone's tongue in the Valley onSunday night. Patrons gathered in blue Giants jerseys to support Hynoski, the 23-year-old Elysburg native and Southern Columbia High School graduate who is now the proud owner of a Super Bowl championship ring.
-
Schools await word on Corbett's budget
SUNBURY -- Winston Churchill once said, "A politician needs the ability to foretell what is going to happen tomorrow, next week, next month and next year. And to have the ability afterwards to explain why it didn't happen."
-
DA wants Loving Care leader held liable for $68G fine
MIDDLEBURG -- More than a year has passed since the former corporation that operated a Selinsgrove personal care home was convicted of stealing a resident's money, but the case still lingers in court. In December 2010, Loving Care Nursing Center Inc. was convicted of stealing about $32,000 of former resident Francis T. Simonoski's money while he lived at the 308 S. Market St. home in 2007. The corporation was fined $100,000, which later was reduced to $68,000 following an appeal.
-
For Riverside couple, game day means party
RIVERSIDE -- Super Bowl Sunday is more than just a sports day for Joe and Leanna Muscato. It's also one of their biggest parties of the year. They have been holding Super Bowl parties for 32 years. They have been holding Super Bowl parties for 32 years. "When it started, it was in my little apartment" in Danville, Leanna said. Only eight people were at the first gathering. Now, there are usually 25 to 30 people every year.
-
Who will feed US?
SUNBURY -- More than 60 percent of farmers are over the age of 55, and without young farmers to replace them when they retire, the nation's food supply would depend on fewer and fewer people. "This is an alarming revelation that we have been hearing for several years," said Tim Lesher, a member of the Pennsylvania Farm Bureau's Young Farmer and Rancher Committee and president of the Northumberland County Farm Bureau.
-
A dip'll do: Few linger in 41-degree water
LEWISBURG -- Why? Group by group, about 250 otherwise perfectly sane-looking folks dived in and ran out of the Susquehanna River at St. George Street landing Saturday in the Seventh annual Polar Bear Plunge, part of the yearly Heart of Lewisburg Ice Festival.
-
5 of 9 coaches: Giants will be super
CATAWISSA -- Around 10 tonight, it will be the New York Giants being showered with multi-colored confetti, holding preprinted newspaper front pages that proclaim "GIANTS ARE SUPER!" and getting sweaty fingerprints all over the 7-pound sterling silver Lombardi Trophy, so say five of nine Valley high school football coaches.
-
State mandates manure must be managed
HARRISBURG -- Anyone who spreads manure on fields or has a pasture, barnyard or feedlot must now have a manure management plan, even if he has no animals and imports manure only for his fields, a Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection official said Friday.
- More News Headlines
-
New Report: Large charitable donations on the rise
