World News
'Recovery Express' appeals to Congress for help on home foreclosures
Published: March 10, 2009
WASHINGTON (CNS) -- Come March 26 Jaime Silahua and his family are facing life on the streets. His bank, it turns out, is foreclosing on his home in Antioch, Calif. It didn't matter, Silahua said, that he tried to renegotiate the terms of his loan, citing economic hardship brought on by his teenage son's yearlong treatment for leukemia. The bank turned down his appeal, saying his income fell just below the amount needed to qualify as a hardship case. Silahua, who supports his family by working as a handyman in the community 35 miles east of Oakland, isn't sure yet where he, his wife and three children will be come March 27. But he has pursued lots of options, including making a 3,000-mile bus trip to Washington as a "recovery rider" to take his story to Congress. The trip came courtesy of the "Recovery Express" caravan, which pulled into Washington March 10 for a rally and meetings with members of Congress and White House staffers. Put together by the People Improving Communities Through Organizing Network, the four-day caravan pulled out of Antioch March 6 and stopped in Denver; Kansas City, Mo.; Springfield, Ill.; Chicago; Flint, Mich.; and Camden, N.J., on a whirlwind cross-country trek. At churches along the way more people joined the caravan.
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