Marriage & Family

For needy, cell phones can be free

By John Murawski • McClatchy Newspapers • 4/22/2009

McClatchy Newspapers (MCT) - An obscure federal program that helps poor people pay for phone service is entering the wireless era. Cell phone companies are offering the needy a bargain that the rest of us can only dream about: free service. TracFone, a national wireless phone service company, this ...

Laid-off alumni asking alma maters for help

By Scott Nishimura • McClatchy Newspapers • 4/21/2009

McClatchy Newspapers (MCT) - More alumni are returning to colleges this year _ not just to visit, but to seek career help. Schools are offering their career centers for assessments, launching support groups, running more networking receptions and calling on employed alumni for help. Texas ...

Seniors make job training work for them

By Bob Moos • McClatchy Newspapers • 4/21/2009

The Dallas Morning News (MCT) - This recession has beaten down many older workers and retirees. Sylvester Barron picks them up, dusts them off and helps the unemployed find jobs. "Once people feel as though they're needed again, it's a whole new day," he said. "They're no longer sitting at home in ...

Newly unemployed, men redefine breadwinning roles

By Erin Chan Ding • McClatchy Newspapers • 4/21/2009

Detroit Free Press (MCT) - Sometimes in the offices of Brides-to-Be Shows, where lollipops peek out from a pink basket and a heart-shaped photo hangs on the refrigerator, Don Evanowski forgets. He acts as if he and Cyd LaChiusa Evanowski are just husband and wife. But then they have a disagreement. ...

Economy leaves college applicants cautious

By Patricia Alex • McClatchy Newspapers • 4/20/2009

The Record (Hackensack N.J.) (MCT) - Take a bad economy, mix in a record number of high school graduates and you've got one unpredictable and particularly maddening season in college admissions. "The historical trend lines mean nothing," said Jonathan Wexler, admissions director at Fairleigh ...

More fathers choosing to stay home with kids after job losses

By Carlos Alcal� • Maryknoll Office of Global Concerns • 4/20/2009

McClatchy Newspapers (MCT) - Instead of sitting in traffic for a long drive to his office in Concord, Calif., on a recent Monday, Chuck Hammond sat at his kitchen table in Roseville, Calif., cutting the rind off little pieces of orange and feeding them to his 1-year-old daughter, Reagan. These ...

Communication is key for couples in trying financial times

By Jessica Yadegaran • McClatchy Newspapers • 4/20/2009

Contra Costa Times (MCT) - Before the recession and before they had kids, Ben and Andrea Bidwell loved going out to dinner and catching a show in San Francisco. They had dual, full-time incomes, and the economy had yet to tank. Now, three years later, their lifestyle has shifted a bit. "Our idea of ...

Multi-tasker mom pens a manual

By Jennifer Rothacker • McClatchy Newspapers • 4/15/2009

McClatchy Newspapers (MCT) - Sara Ellington may seem like your typical stay-at-home mom: driving carpools, volunteering at her kids' school, worrying about what to serve for dinner. Except this Mountain Island Lake, N.C., mom has authored two books. The second, which hit bookstores last week, ...

Kids don't let recession derail prom dreams

By Jean Patteson • McClatchy Newspapers • 4/15/2009

The Orlando Sentinel (MCT) - Forget dresses, ballrooms and music. When it came to planning the prom at Mount Dora High School this year, "the first thing I thought about was the recession," said Marilyn Orr, the junior-class sponsor. "I thought, we need to make this prom affordable." Holding ...

Shaky economy finds women turning to self-defense classes

By Erin Chan Ding • McClatchy Newspapers • 4/8/2009

Detroit Free Press (MCT) - The incidents made Lisa Grossman incredibly uneasy. First, a man forced a sister of an acquaintance into her car in Troy, Mich., directed her to an ATM, and stole $400. Next, another man hovered near her 9-year-old daughter at a Burger King in Rochester Hills, Mich., ...