For Maria Marroquin, Christmas 2009 is bittersweet. As the holiday draws near, she enlists her 5-year-old granddaughter to help sort through a donation of clothing and toys at the Mountain View Day Worker Center, where Maria has served as Executive Director for nearly a decade. The donations are most welcome, say the workers who sign in daily, seeking work in local homes and gardens. Gifts from the community will supplement the meager incomes earned by those who come to the Center every morning...and wait.

Only fifteen percent of the workers who show up are matched with jobs on any given day. In recent years, the average worker’s yearly income has totaled about $5,000. When the figures are in for 2009, Maria says, the total will probably come to quite a bit less, probably in the range of $4,000. "The recession has hit everyone," she says, "but those earning the lowest incomes are getting hit the hardest."

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Day Worker Center of Mountain View