CHARLOTTE, N.C. — It's been about eight months since the COVID-19 pandemic struck the US in full force, and millions of Americans are still out of work.
Many families report still feeling stuck, helpless, and frustrated, which has led to the creation of online support groups in the Carolinas.
One example is a Facebook group called "North Carolina Unemployment," which has 11,000 members and growing.
“It's been about two months now I've been in the group," said group member Aaron Perry.
Perry told WCNC Charlotte he hasn’t received an unemployment payment in 5 weeks even though he qualifies, and he can’t get a hold of anyone to figure out why.
“We're actually a slave to that payment every week," Perry said. "That's kind of depressing, you know, having to depend on certain people to do that when you can't even speak to them directly.”
He said finding the Facebook support group was both a relief and unsettling proof of an unfortunate reality.
“I can honestly get more feedback and information out of that group than I can if I call that number," he said. “It's kind of nice, knowing that you're not the only one having issues, but it's also terrible when you realize, okay, well, there's another, you know, 2,100 and some comments on here. So, that's like, 2,000 other people having the same problem, which is ridiculous.”
Jennifer Chieffo is another group member who shares Perry's frustration.
“I have not collected anything since September," Chieffo said. "I don't understand any of this."
She too has found a sense of community in the group.
“I found a lot of good information on there and a lot of helpful people," she said. “And I would try to help others that were frustrated and losing hope.”
But she said with every passing day, that hope becomes harder to hold on to.
“I'm really stressed out, I'm tired of crying," Chieffo said. “I think our government, they let us down there. They're not there for us and I don't know who to trust and it's just scary.”
The WCNC Charlotte Defenders did reach out to the unemployment office on behalf of Aaron, Jennifer and a few other group members, asking “where’s the money?”
Two of those cases were quickly resolved, the others are reportedly still being addressed.