{"id":447,"date":"2015-01-09T20:32:09","date_gmt":"2015-01-09T20:32:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/stories.kera.org\/onecrisisaway\/?p=447"},"modified":"2016-04-22T13:46:17","modified_gmt":"2016-04-22T13:46:17","slug":"one-familys-journey-back-from-the-brink","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stories.kera.org\/onecrisisaway\/2015\/01\/09\/one-familys-journey-back-from-the-brink\/","title":{"rendered":"One Family&#8217;s Journey Back From The Brink"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>In 2013, KERA launched a series called <a href=\"http:\/\/keranews.org\/topic\/one-crisis-away\"><em>One Crisis Away<\/em><\/a>, looking at four North Texas families on the financial edge. Between now and the end of the 2014, we\u2019ll catch up with the families. First up, the Dorys.<\/strong><\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p>Wife Schnique and husband J.C. still live in the Fort Worth suburb of White Settlement with her two kids. And they have the same jobs. Still, a lot has changed for this family of four. It\u2019s been a year of struggles, and triumphs.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"900\" height=\"506\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/2cCKlwIo7cQ?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>Ducks on the pond, cooks in the kitchen, Schnique Dory in the classroom.<\/p>\n<p>Some people were meant to teach, and it only takes about five minutes with Schnique at the whiteboard to figure out she\u2019s one of them.<\/p>\n<p>Schnique\u2019s day job is a full load of 8th grade English at Benbrook Middle School. Twice a week, she moonlights.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI teach a GED class on Tuesday nights and Saturday morning at the Community Enrichment Center,\u201d says Schnique. \u201cThe Community Enrichment Center is the program that helped me and my children get on our feet when we had nothing.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Schnique and the kids were facing homelessness. The non-profit helped with housing and got Schnique started on her journey to becoming a teacher.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhen the opportunity came available to teach one of the classes here, absolutely is what I said, sure I will,\u201d says Schnique.<\/p>\n<p>And she teaches with her whole heart, moving from student to student with constructive corrections and positivity.<\/p>\n<h4>Relating To Her Students<\/h4>\n<p>For Schnique, this class is personal. When she was at her lowest with two small children in tow, what saved her was a bachelor\u2019s degree. Even with a college diploma and a solid, full-time job, Schnique knows what it means to struggle financially. Earlier this year, her husband J.C. underwent four, separate surgeries.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe first one he had an issue with his thyroid and the other three were for kidney stones,\u201d Schnique says. \u201cSo he missed some time off work, almost four months without income.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Schnique says all together, her family probably lost out on $15,000 when J.C. was off the job as a truck driver. They survived in true Dory family fashion: they locked down their spending.<\/p>\n<h4>Stocking Up<\/h4>\n<p>Schnique has always been a \u201ccouponer,\u201d and during JC\u2019s time off, she took things up a notch. Her motto was \u2018I don\u2019t want to buy it if it isn\u2019t on sale.\u2019<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI have canned goods, I have cereal. I really try to collect a lot of things that don\u2019t expire or the shelf life is long, like shampoo. I don\u2019t know what person needs 32 bottles of shampoo, but I have them,\u201d laughs Schnique.<\/p>\n<p>Keeping up with her stockpile is nothing compared to keeping up with her two kids daughter Schnthia is a 7thgrader and Schnique\u2019s son, Jaelyn, is a high school freshman.<\/p>\n<p>Schnthia just made the basketball team and Jaelyn just made a big change to his extracurricular activities. After dislocating his kneecap during football season, he decided to try cheerleading.<\/p>\n<p>Husband J.C. seems to have his health problems behind him. He\u2019s back driving his truck, so the Dorys can relax a little. Just a little.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe were one crisis away and it was a crisis and it was difficult. But we made it,\u201d says Schnique.<\/p>\n<p>Made it, in part because of Schnique\u2019s steady job. Something she hopes each of her GED students will come to count on after they leave her classroom.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In 2013, KERA launched a series called One Crisis Away,&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":448,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"audio","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-447","post","type-post","status-publish","format-audio","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-one-crisis-living-on-the-financial-edge","post_format-post-format-audio","byline-courtney-collins"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stories.kera.org\/onecrisisaway\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/447","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stories.kera.org\/onecrisisaway\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stories.kera.org\/onecrisisaway\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stories.kera.org\/onecrisisaway\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stories.kera.org\/onecrisisaway\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=447"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/stories.kera.org\/onecrisisaway\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/447\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":450,"href":"https:\/\/stories.kera.org\/onecrisisaway\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/447\/revisions\/450"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stories.kera.org\/onecrisisaway\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/448"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stories.kera.org\/onecrisisaway\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=447"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stories.kera.org\/onecrisisaway\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=447"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stories.kera.org\/onecrisisaway\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=447"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}