The E. coli outbreak that nearly killed two Port Orange brothers might force the entire Kleinschmidt family from their home, too, the News Journal reports.
Their mother, a shift manager at Wendy’s restaurant where she had been for seven years, hasn’t worked since the boys were hospitalized three months ago.
Medicaid paid for the boys’ hospitalizations, but living expenses have been piling up for the single mother. And although the boys are now at home, they cannot go to daycare, and one boy is on seven medications.
Now Kleinschmidt and her family are facing eviction from their apartment, and she doesn’t even have the money to file a court document disputing the eviction.
The $300 she received from Volusia County Department of Human Services in May didn’t last long. So Kleinschmidt applied for emergency housing; she was told that there was no funding until July. She applied for state cash assistance in April; that application is pending. She’s called Halifax Urban Ministries and a number of churches to no avail. And an application for one son to receive Social Security disability has been denied, so she doesn’t hold out much hope for the other to be approved. And her ex-husband hasn’t paid any child support payments.
The family has a lawsuit against the petting zoo, Ag-Venture Farm Shows, as do other families whose children were hospitalized. Morgan & Morgan in Orlando is handling the case on a contingency basis. But any money they might win seems an eternity away.
“I’m pretty upset — it seems like nothing at all is working out for us,” Kleinschmidt said. “It is hard right now. But I’m just hoping and praying that something will come through for my family.”