From WBEZ Chicago — July 20, 2018
In December, 2014, Paul Gillespie’s wife died of a heart attack. He buried her on a Tuesday. On Saturday came more hard news: His landlord called and said she was selling the building, and he and his two teenage daughters had to find a new place to live.
Gillespie moved. But the bad times kept coming: The following spring, he had a heart attack, forcing him to take a leave from his job as a welder.
“I was running low on money. I had just spent $10,000 on a funeral,” Gillespie said. He said he had bad credit and couldn’t get a traditional bank loan.