MoJo Readers to the Rescue

When Lewis Jackson and Marlene Feltus-Jackson read our profile of a Wal-Mart worker, they knew they had to help.

Photo: Courtesy Jackson Family

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in our January/February issue, Sasha Abramsky profiled Aubretia Edick, a full-time Wal-Mart worker from upstate New York getting by on as little as $10 a week in groceries. Subscriber Marlene Feltus-Jackson read the story and “looked at her picture thinking, This could be me.” Born and raised in New Orleans, Marlene and her husband, Lewis Jackson, lost their home and three cats during Katrina. Now, she says, all her paychecks go toward insurance payments, while Lewis’ cover living expenses. Still, the couple “made some alterations within our budget” and sent Edick a $500 check and a letter with their bios: “Marlene: Grandmother, 58 years old, part-time college math instructor, anti-war, Baptist (was Catholic), BIG Motown fan”; “Lewis: Grandfather, 62 years old, high school band director, Vietnam vet, anti-war, Lutheran, super Saints fan.” It concludes, “Hopefully Obama will do something about these slave wages of working citizens across America, for all of us.”

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DONALD TRUMP & DEMOCRACY

Mother Jones was founded to do journalism differently. We stand for justice and democracy. We reject false equivalence. We go after stories others don’t. We’re a nonprofit newsroom, because the kind of truth-telling investigations we do doesn’t happen under corporate ownership.

And we need your support like never before, to fight back against the existential threats American democracy faces. Fundraising for nonprofit media is always a challenge, and we need all hands on deck right now. We have no cushion; we leave it all on the field.

It’s reader support that enables Mother Jones to report the facts that are too difficult, expensive, or inconvenient for other news outlets to uncover. Please help with a donation today if you can—even a few bucks will make a real difference. A monthly gift would be incredible.

payment methods

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