I want to tell people about my mother. She is almost 71 years old. New Year’s Eve is also her birthday. My mother was ill last year on her birthday and did not really celebrate. This Maine woman deserves to be celebrated.

Like many Maine mothers and grandmothers, my mother has been a long-term caregiver to many family members. By the time she felt well again, COVID-19 made gathering in person impossible. My mother has been separated from her extended family longer than most, and our family will not celebrate her again this year out of an abundance of caution. My mother has some health issues, and no one in our family wants to cause her any harm.

My mother’s job, working with schoolchildren, puts her health at risk. My mother’s work is essential to our community and she cannot afford to live without the income from her job. Extending and expanding aid to unemployed people could help people like my mother stay safer, and take care of mortgage payments, buy food and meet other basic needs until the pandemic is better controlled.

CARES Act provisions will expire at the end of the month. Congress must act now to pass a relief package that ensures that Mainers with health risks have what they need to make it through to the new year. Stopgap measures need to include strong housing protections and relief, additional food assistance and expanded unemployment benefits. Please ask Maine’s congressional delegation to protect Mainers like my mother.

Kimberly Hammill
Levant

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