Oklahoma City Woman Sells Plasma Twice Weekly to Survive on $3.78
Updated
Updated · The New York Times · Aug 1
Oklahoma City Woman Sells Plasma Twice Weekly to Survive on $3.78
3 articles · Updated · The New York Times · Aug 1
Summary
$3.78 in checking, 1 cent in savings and six pennies in a piggy bank left Trinity Goodman relying on selling blood plasma twice a week to get by in Oklahoma City.
Food stamps of $298 a month help feed her, but they cannot cover basics such as toilet paper, feminine hygiene products or haircuts, pushing her to church-run pantries.
For five years, Goodman said, she avoided homelessness by staying with a man who regularly demanded sex; a local nonprofit later secured her low-income housing for $50 a month.
The account, drawn from a 1,000-mile reporting trip, portrays a level of U.S. poverty in which even routine necessities remain out of reach.