Now that I left mother’s house, where would I go? I have no money, no permanent place to live, and no guidance. Mother had been receiving money from Veterans Affairs and Social Security as part of the benefits due to my father's death. Getting that money transferred into my name was a priority. But, how?
I had absolutely no idea how to handle business affairs, but I knew I was about to get an early crash course. I gathered my emancipation papers, birth certificate and social security card, walked to the bus stop and headed to the social security office first. I pulled a number and sat down. When they called my number, my throat fell to my stomach. I was so afraid that I wouldn’t know the answers to their questions, or that I wouldn’t know the questions to ask them. When I approached the desk, an older white lady said, “How can I help you.” She probably said that a thousand times a day. But for some reason when she said it to me, I believed she really wanted to help me. I looked at her and said, “My name is Shannon Moultrie and I’ve recently emancipated from my mother and I need help.” She looked at me with a “you poor child” face and said, “Let’s see what we can do.”
After spending hours in her office, this kind lady reassigned my benefits from my mother to me. She wrote down the number to the VA office and told me to ask for a specific person, I don’t recall his name. He was a middle aged white man, who would later guide me on the path to college. She had already called him in advance to let him know what was going on. On the same piece of paper, she wrote down other resources I would need and told me that if I had any other questions I could give her a call. I believed her. And more than once, I did.
Shortly after that I went to the VA office and went through the same process. Because I was so young, they scheduled a VA representative to visit me to make sure I was okay and to help me plan for my future. For the first time, in a long time, I felt like a had a future.
S
Comments