The unemployed

THOMAS HOOTMAN, CAROLINE HOOTMAN VANDERWEL HUSBAND&WIFE

Occupations: Resident DJ / event coordinator (Thomas) Massage therapist, owner of Simplyspasantee.com (Caroline) Ages: 51 (Thomas) and 47 (Caroline)

Live in: Santee Length of unemployment: Since March 15

“Not having an income has been difficult to say the least. That is truly the hardest part. But a close second to that is not being able to plan anything. We are planners. Finances, business, vacations — we plan everything far in advance. You have to when you work for yourself. To not be able to plan is extremely difficult. The more questions we ask — and don’t get answered — more questions come forward. For instance: What will the face of our businesses look like? Can we continue at all? Should we move to another state that’s more business-friendly? How will distance learning affect my child? What are the real numbers? Do the people making decisions truly know about how to run a business successfully, cleanly, safely, but continue to operate? We’ve asked all these questions, and there are still no answers. For Caroline, being able to open for three weeks, there seemed to be a little hope that everything would work itself out. Then we had to close again and her hope was shattered. Even if she could open up again, I’m in the event business. And there’s no telling when I can start to operate again ... it looks like sometime in 2021. Every DJ, emcee, party planner, event coordinator, venue operator — we’re all still not working and probably won’t be any time soon. For now, we’ll continue to go running every morning, eat right, and stay healthy. And figure out how to take back control of our lives.”