


Mya Mercer

Hannah Smith
My father worked his entire life to take care of his family. In a moment, someone else’s irresponsibility stole our financial security. Like most working families, paychecks were used to pay the bills and raise the children. Often, very little was left for savings or future investments. This made life insurance and Accidental Death and Dismemberment Insurance all the more important. Had my father not had the forethought to have these coverages, we would have lost our home and struggled to meet our most basic daily needs. Unfortunately the man who caused the accident did not have acceptable levels of insurance coverage. His auto insurance was the minimum required by law in Virginia – $50,000 bodily injury for all persons per accident. The medical bills for my family of five had exceeded that amount before leaving the scene of the accident. He had nothing we could sue for and is now in prison, leaving us to figure out how to survive without my father’s income while continuing to incur medical bills that have exceeded $2 million. There is no such thing as too much insurance, but not enough insurance is devastating.
Throughout our recovery, I have maintained a 4.4 GPA. I will major in neuroscience in hopes of finding better treatment and recovery options for those suffering from traumatic brain injuries.

Creighton Clewis
My mother ironically had no savings account. It was clear as to why her savings was empty, acknowledging all her issues with spending her money due to depression, and living paycheck to paycheck in the past. But we were lucky to know my mother at least had life insurance. The insurance had covered most of the funeral, but not everything like we had hoped. My grandma ended up spending around $7000 as a beneficiary, and my older sister had chipped in around $1,200 for my mother’s stone. In sight of all this, my mother had left our bank accounts damaged, with only $10 left from my mother which wasn’t enough to make up for the things we had lost.
Since my mother’s passing, I have dug deeper into financial issues, something I thought would never happen. I currently am holding down three jobs to support my father who I moved in with following my mother’s passing. I now provide for myself more than I believe a dependent should. I had to buy my own car, I now pay for my own phone, I help support my family with rent and groceries, and I also had a gap In my car insurance after my mothers death, which caused my expenses to rise. With my mother’s death, I now am also struggling to make It possible to attend college which is my top priority and continue the therapy that I need.
If my mother had a savings account, and started life insurance earlier in her years, my family wouldn’t have had to struggle so much financially. I wouldn’t have to work so hard to make ends meet and I wouldn’t have to spend money to attend therapy for my mental health. Nothing has been the same since my mother had left. Everyday has become struggle for me and my family, and we all miss my mother very much. I feel as though my life got flipped around, but I aspire to keep living like my mother would have wanted, which is why I decided to go to college and major in Psychology to become a therapist. My mother’s depression took her life, and I don’t want others to have to suffer like my family did.
