‘Nothing under our tree’: millions in US cope with financial misery during holiday season

The pandemic and its attendant recession have left millions across the country with little money and little to celebrate

There will be no presents under the Christmas tree this year for Sierra Schauvilegee and her children. Schauvilegee lost her job as a nurse when the residential care facility she worked for permanently closed down at the start of the coronavirus pandemic. Finding new work has proved impossible.

This is the first year my children will not open a single gift, nothing under our tree," said Schauvilegee, who lives in Ingalls, Kansas. I used all my savings to survive and I begged my mother to move in until I received rental assistance and food stamps, that is all I literally have."

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