Kyle

Kyle is a father of three. The children's mother struggles with mental health and substance abuse issues, and he handles the majority of parenting responsibilities. In 2017, Kyle suffered a back injury which required surgery and left him unemployed for over 2 years. During this time, he got buried in debt. When he first learned about the unconditional cash, his main goal was to stop the constant calls from collectors. He felt a pressure to get out of the hole. “I could finally stop the creditor calls all day every day…you know just alleviate some of that day-to-day, constant agony of phone call after phone call…sometimes you just have more months than money.” He had been thinking about getting a second job to pay off the debt but was worried about affording childcare. “I can't afford to pay somebody to watch my kids while I go make 5 or $10 an hour. It just doesn't make sense if I'm paying $40 an hour for childcare.” 

The $1,000 a month made it so he didn’t have to work two jobs, and he could spend more time with his children. “Just being able to be more aware and present.” He used the money to break the “vicious cycle” of debt. He is still plugging away at this but is now 70% toward his goal. For Kyle, the money freed both his time and his mental bandwidth allowing him to focus on other things. He has since gotten a gym membership and taken steps toward improving his health, he got his children involved in karate, and he started thinking about going back to school.