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FROM NEXT AVENUE: She Lost Everything, So She Moved Into An Old RV

February 8, 2016

photo by Los Angeles Times In 2008, Dolores Westfall lost her home and tumbled out of the middle class.

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From Next Avenue — where grown-ups keep on growing.

Dolores Westfall, 79, recently profiled in The Los Angeles Times, unfortunately, is like too many older Americans these days.

In 2008, during the Great Recession, Westfall lost her home and her footing in the American middle class. (“Studies show that older single women are the most financially vulnerable,” The Los Angeles Times reports. “They make less than male workers, and those that take time off to have children often miss chances for seniority and pay raises.”)

With just $1,200 monthly income from Social Security and $190 a month from a pension, Westfall ended up selling her possessions and hitting the open road in an aging RV, less by choice and more by necessity. She takes odd jobs from state to state, barely getting by.

“Nearing 80, she suffers daily aches and pains — leg cramps and arthritis and weakness from low blood sugar,” the LA Times writes.

“I want to live life as much as I can,” Westfall says. “Before I don’t have any.”

Watch her story on NextAvenue.org.

© Twin Cities Public Television - 2016. All rights reserved.

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