“The day that I found out that I was approved, I cried...It's taken a lot off my shoulders. It's taken a lot, a big load off me.”
Imagine being 67 years old with an inoperable brain tumor and cancer. You can’t work, so you’re struggling to live off a $943 monthly Social Security check. It’s barely enough to cover your utilities, especially because your older terminally ill brother lives with you and the medical machines he depends on for his survival run up the electricity bill to almost $1,000 a month.
If that were you and you found out you were approved to receive $500 a month for 18 months, no strings attached, you’d probably cry tears of joy just like Ruth did.
“I was stressed out all the time and wasn’t sleeping because I was trying to figure out how many loans I would have to take out to pay the bills every month,” Ruth recalled. “And that's the miracle about this $500! I'm not going to have to take out any more loans. It helps me to buy food too…As someone considered obese, I've been trying to eat a lot healthier. And the thing is, it's actually more expensive [to buy unprocessed foods].”
Ruth is one of 50 people in Peoria, Illinois who applied and was chosen in September 2024 to receive cash through the Illinois Community Fund. Study after study shows direct cash efforts like the Illinois Community Fund, work. So why don’t more organizations — specifically philanthropic and government institutions — adopt this approach? UpTogether believes it’s because of stereotypes.
“I've seen a lot on Facebook about people getting public aid saying, ‘Oh, they're lazy. They don't want to work. They want to sit on their butts.’ That's not true. That's not anywhere near being true,” said Ruth.
Like many of the people UpTogether has invested in since 2001, Ruth worked multiple jobs over the years to support herself and her family. After becoming a teen mom and dropping out of high school, she later earned a GED, went to college and became a paralegal; a degree that later helped her win a lawsuit when she was wrongfully terminated from a security job after being diagnosed with cancer. She used the money to pay the medical expenses that piled up from her 50+ radiation treatments.
When asked if she believes giving people cash is the best solution to poverty, she wholeheartedly agreed.
“I think it's the best way because it helps people. It gives them a hand up. It gives 'em a hand up and helps them like me take a load off and be able to just sit and relax for a while…this is just the best program I've ever seen. I mean, it's a godsend really.”