Cortney wrote to Our Town Reno this week saying she was wondering if there were motel vouchers available for people like her in dire straits. She was staying in a local motel but then her money ran out.
She followed up with a text writing under pouring, cold rain: “I’m trying to find a warm place to go right now. It’s me and my wife and our two dogs.”
In a subsequent phone call, she said she’d moved from Fallon in the summer thinking there were more job opportunities here, but says the salary her wife now makes working full time at the Renfield Manufacturing makeup factory, making $900 every two weeks, hasn’t been enough this month. They don’t have a car so sleeping in a vehicle isn’t an option. Her wife carpools with a friend to her job.
“We’re just sitting outside,” she said at the time of our call. “It’s just hard.”
Cortney says they tried living with her mom and brother for a while, but she says that didn’t work out.
Cortney, 39, pictured with Misty May.
Weeklies she says cost about $220 a week, and also sometimes require initial deposits.
Cortney says she can’t work herself, and has applied for disability payments, but she hasn’t started getting government money yet. She’s heard of the RISE shelter for women and families, but she says she has been confused by the application process to get in. She hadn’t heard of the Nevada Cares Campus.
She said if someone wanted to help, she’d be grateful and happy to talk about her situation some more. We recommended attending the Tuesday night Family Soup Mutual Aid to meet with local activists who might be able to help as well.