‘Pure joy’: KC couple facing coronavirus, out of work and homeless, get helping hand
Late last month, John and Sarah Price found their problems getting worse and worse as they, like others around the country, confronted the coronavirus pandemic.
Evicted from their Kansas City, North, apartment, they were living in a van outside the department store where Sarah worked. Then she found herself out of work because of the economic disruption. The van was disabled in a wreck. John got sick and tested positive for the coronavirus.
Now, about a week and a half after they shared their story with The Star, the Prices are close to having a portable home of their own.
In the past several days, several readers reached out to offer assistance to the Prices. One launched a GoFundMe account for the couple.
On Wednesday, John Price said they were able to get the last few items they needed — an air compressor and a tool kit — to get a trailer picked up with the help of a volunteer from Free Hot Soup, a local group that helps people experiencing homelessness.
The couple has permission to park the trailer in the same lot where they had kept their van. They can live there temporarily until they get a vehicle to transport the trailer.
Sarah, who had been furloughed from her job, doesn’t know when she can get back to work. But she has been told she can qualify for unemployment benefits through legislation passed because of the pandemic.
John and Sarah Price said they felt overwhelmed, but in a good way.
“It’s ours. It’s our home,” John Price said. “I already about lost it once just out of pure joy from the enormity of everything finally coming together ... we’re finally going to be off the street.”
The couple said they never expected the generosity that poured out from members of the public. Donations from one couple that added up to $600 paid for the Prices to stay in a motel for another week while they planned their next steps.
By Sunday, if not earlier, the Prices should be getting comfortable in their new home.
John Price said they wanted people to be aware of what those who have no home experience in the Northland.
“All of this has just been overwhelming,” Sarah Price said. “We weren’t thinking we would have help. We weren’t trying to do it for help.”