A woman gave an emotional account of trying to get by on minimum wage to a crowd at a Bernie Sanders event in Iowa on Monday.
Sanders held a town hall in Iowa Falls on Monday morning and asked if anyone in the crowd would share their experience living off of $12,000 a year. That’s when the woman spoke up, detailing her struggle living on less than $10,000 a year—despite having an education and steady employment.
“It’s so hard to do anything to pay your bills, you’re ashamed all the time… when you can’t buy presents for your children it’s really really really hard,” she told the crowd. “And I work 3, 4, 5 jobs sometimes, always minimum wage, I have a degree, divorced and it’s just I’m waiting for disability to come through so my parents have to support me—it’s just hard.
The crowed cheered her on and Sanders thanked her for sharing her story. “It is not easy for people to stand up and say that but the truth is that until millions of people who are experiencing what you’re experiencing do say that we don’t make change,” Sanders said.
Much of Sanders campaign is built around combatting economic inequality.
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