Claire Hersom: Speaking the truth about poverty

Catching Your Memories

Claire Hersom considers herself blessed. She has wonderful children and grandchildren, a safe place to live, and although now retired, does good honest work. That work includes trying to break the stereotype of the poor by speaking the truth about what it means to live in abject poverty. When her three children were young, Claire suddenly became a single parent. Her own parents had passed away. Her father when she was 17 and her mother just the year before. Six months after becoming a single parent, she also lost the family home. She was determined to give her children a "normal" life, but it was a constant struggle. In the 70s, a time when resentment against poor people was on the rise, she had to go on welfare. Even when she was working and off welfare she struggled to make ends meet. In this episode of the Catching Your Memories podcast, Claire talks about some of the ways she managed the challenges she faced and the many lessons and truths about poverty, grief, and forgiveness that she learned along the way.