I reside in St. Petersburg, Florida. I'm the mother of four children, 12, 11, 8 and 4 years of age. I've search for a job for the past several months without any success. My unemployment recently ran out last week. I applied for emergency unemployment benefits. Of course when I applied online, I was given a message after applying that it would only take 7 days to process claim and 10 days to receive your first check...yeah right. Applied on Feb 5 2009 and called yesterday Feb 13 to check the status....they haven't even process my claim yet, in fact the customer service rep couldn't pull my claim up on her pc because the processing department has not processed it yet. The customer service rep said that Florida's unemployment rate is very high and that the are very behind and filling people's claim...as if I was supposed to accept that. I explained to her that I have four children and rent and bills to pay....of course she didn't care. I need help. I need a job that I can support my family with...I need my unemployment check to pay my bills and rent do....we will soon be homeless. I was barely paying rent and bills before my unemployment ended.....now with this long break between benefits payments is going to put me way behind. By the time I get my check....well first of all the first check will be only for 1 week of benefits, which for me is about 150 dollars, beleive it or not....My rent is 610 if paid on the first of the month. After that it's a $10 fee the second day and $5 dollars per day thereafter. After the 5th of the month, rent is no longer 610 put goes up to 685 plus all the late fee.....The point is, my children and I are going to be in financial hole that I'm not going to be able to get out of, by the time my first unemployment check for $ 150 gets to me. If there is anyone out there who can help me for the month of March 2009 rent, I will be forever grateful, I would even be willing to work....as in legal work that is...I usually work in the customer service. I type 55 words per minute. So I will work for the money...that's not a problem. But at this point I'm desparate. PLEASE HELP!
