Young Family Finds Ways to Scrape By

The only way to understand how far Manny and Rachel Martinez have come is to know where they started.

About a year ago, when Rachel was pregnant and unable to work, Manny shouldered the entire burden of keeping the young family financially afloat. It wasn’t easy.

With the $750 he received each month as a chef at a Thousand Oaks sushi bar, he paid $500 rent, a $200 car payment and $51 in car insurance.

The couple got their groceries from food pantries and their clothes from thrift stores. They borrowed from friends and family when their own money ran out.

“We did whatever we needed to do to survive,” said Manny, 24, his 7-month-old daughter, Sieana, cooing and crawling between his legs at the two-story condominium the couple rent in a working-class neighborhood on Thousand Oaks’ west side.

“We were not able to buy a pair of shoes, a pair of jeans, not even anything to eat. We just paid the rent, paid the bills and that was it.”

Added 20-year-old Rachel: “We didn’t tell anyone, we were too embarrassed. We had absolutely nothing. I’m still amazed that we did it.”

Poverty is relative for the working poor, success a moving target. But for thousands of Ventura County families like the Martinezes, the economic reality is bleak at best.

Compared to how they were doing a few months ago, Manny and Rachel are living well these days. She has gone back to work and earns $5 an hour as a gas station cashier. He earns $5.50 an hour as a cook at a local Italian eatery--more than a dollar more an hour than he earned at the sushi bar.

Each month, after buying food and paying all their bills--higher now with Sieana--the couple just about break even. It’s the best financial shape of their young lives.

They have staggered work hours so that they can take turns watching the baby. It doesn’t leave much time together, but they say they couldn’t afford to do much anyway.

There are other frustrations. Nearly every stick of furniture in their house has been given to them. Likewise, Sieana’s clothes are still handed out free by a local pregnancy center.

Sometimes, at the head of the line in a grocery store, they don’t have enough money to buy everything that they have piled into their grocery cart.

“Sometimes we have everything at the register and they tell me I have to put things back,” Manny said.

“He gets embarrassed, but it’s no big deal,” Rachel chimed in. “If we don’t have enough, we don’t have enough.”

They get no welfare payments or food stamps, but receive a monthly allotment of government milk, eggs, cheese and baby formula. The formula alone saves them about $60 a month.

“I don’t like to rely on the government,” said Manny, his voice heavy with frustration. “But if we had to do it ourselves, we couldn’t. If we had just a little more money, we could go buy the things we can’t afford right now. We could buy clothes for the baby. We could go out to dinner every once in awhile, maybe go see a movie. The way the situation is now, what can we expect in the future?”

The question hangs unanswered. Then there is talk of the California lottery, and the $1 they plunk down each month for a shot at a worry-free future.

So far, the big bet has not paid off.

“At least we know we’re both working,” Rachel said. “It will take time, but we’ll make it. We’re young and we’re willing to work hard.”