Worried for her family, she asked for help; she got it

This is the second of two parts.

Jo Ann Goodlow works for the federal Bureau of Land Management in Arizona, but the government shutdown means she isn’t drawing a paycheck. As the bills piled up, she made the difficult decision to ask for help.

Maybe strangers would see her GoFundMe plea. No one she knew would have to know. But five hours after she posted, there were no donations.

Goodlow’s dad died in 2016, leaving her enough money for a down payment and at 48, she bought a house for the first time. She was determined not to lose it.

Her son, Michael, told her to share the GoFundMe post on Twitter.

Goodlow checked with another son, Matthew. She didn’t want to embarrass him. “It’s fine, Mom,” he told her. “We need this because you don’t know when you are going back to work.”

Still, Goodlow worried. She had asked for $5,000 in her Jan. 9 post.

Within minutes of sharing the link on Twitter, the person who runs the Twitter account for Matthew’s basketball team at Pinnacle High shared it. Donations rolled in.

Goodlow cried as she saw the contributions and messages, many from parents of Matthew’s teammates, first from basketball and then football. Others from school stopped by the house, bringing money in envelopes.

It was the first time she had met many of them.

It was difficult for a woman who has always been independent to accept help.

“I do for myself,” she said. “I figure things out.” But they made it easy. There was no shame, no embarrassment. The GoFundMe page brought in $5,875.

On Friday, Congress passed a bill to grant back pay to federal workers who have been furloughed or had to work without pay once the shutdown is over.

Not knowing how long the shutdown might last is the hardest part. If it goes on for a month, she doesn’t know what else she can do.

But she plans to pay everyone back.