With her 5-year-old son and 6-month-old daughter in tow, Jocelyne Finch wasn't optimistic as she arrived Monday at an appointment for help with her unemployment claim.
She had waited since late March for jobless benefits, when COVID-19 closed her children's school and day care and sickened many at the nursing home where she works.
"I've spent hours and hours trying to get on the phone, trying to talk to people," she said after her appointment. "Today's the first day I actually got any kind of relief."
Finch was one of hundreds who on Monday passed through a Louisville gymnasium for long-awaited face-to-face appointments with state unemployment workers.
It was the first of five days of appointments in Jefferson County, at the United Auto Workers Local 862 union hall.
It was first time Jefferson County has hosted such appointments, which are offered daily in Frankfort — though those are booked through September.
After waiting in endless phone queues and going without responses to emails, in-person appointments have given Kentuckians coveted face time with someone who can listen and possibly clear up issues with their claim.
Louisville's appointments filled up online within a few hours on July 29.
Finch was able to secure a spot after seeing a post about the appointments in a Facebook group dedicated to unemployment issues in Kentucky.
Her claim has been "under investigation," an umbrella term that can signal any number of issues.
She learned during her appointment that her claim needed to be moved from the state’s traditional unemployment program to the federal Pandemic Unemployment Assistance program.
"It literally took 10 minutes to do," Finch said. "And it took all this time for somebody to do that for me."
Still, she said, her overriding emotion was gratitude. By Wednesday, she was told, she should see funds. The months of stress, tears and relying on family to get by might at long last be behind her.
More than a dozen people who spoke with The Courier Journal after their appointments on Monday said they've been waiting weeks if not months for benefits but were leaving with good news.
Related: Most claims in Kentucky's unemployment backlog are '95% complete,' but final step remains
Some filers received a few payments, which then stopped, while others filed and never saw a dime.
Most had waited many weeks with no idea of what was holding up their claim and were relieved to finally have some answers.
Phillip Boaz, an out-of-work chef, drove to Louisville from Lexington for help. He filed for jobless benefits in April but hasn't received a check.
"I wound up spending a lot of my savings trying to figure out what’s next, thinking that I’m going to get the help that I need," he said. "But it just never came."
He's cut out internet and cable from his family's monthly expenses. Some utility bills and rent payments have gone unpaid.
But he is hopeful that with checks soon flowing in — by this week, he was told — his family can get caught up.
"They are friendly as all get-out, and they’re trying their hardest to get people together," he said of the workers he met at his appointment. "I’m just thankful today that I was able to come in and somebody can help me."
Lana Lopes, of Louisville, said she was laid off in June due to COVID-19 but hasn’t received benefits. She left her appointment with the news that she would soon start receiving payments.
“I thank God they’re doing this,” she said. “I feel like they should have had this a long time ago. They’re doing everything they can. I’m not shading nobody. But it was like a miracle, like Jesus is coming, when you hear this is coming.”
Not everyone who has an appointment walks away with an assurance of payment. The state’s sign-up page tells claimants that “not all issues can be resolved the same day.”
David Dizdarevic, a student at the University of Louisville, said he's been waiting to hear back about his benefits since he filed March 14.
The full-time student was laid off from his part-time job as a dispatcher for a trucking company and has been using savings to pay expenses in recent months.
Read more: In-person unemployment appointments in Frankfort abruptly halted over COVID fears
"It's a struggle, for sure," he said. "I couldn't get in contact with anybody to see if they could clear it up, so I was just kinda on my own. But today actually really helped a lot."
Though he left still unsure if if he would receive payments, he was able to fill out paperwork and talk through his claim with a live person.
Some people who arrived in line Monday didn't have an appointment.
Anya Carnes, an executive staff advisor for the Kentucky Labor Cabinet who spent the morning ushering people into a queue, said employees were taking down contact information for those without an appointment. She said they'd receive a phone call next week.
She recommended people make sure they have their appointment confirmed and to not arrive too early before the scheduled time.
Tony Juevas drove from his home in Louisville to Frankfort in hopes of being seen without an appointment. There, he said, he was told to drive back to Louisville where there were appointments.
He wrote his contact information on a slip of paper and handed it to a state worker. Though he left not knowing if he'd receive more than two months of payments, he said he was feeling good.
He was another step closer.
Matthew Glowicki’s Reader's Watchdog column helps readers get answers and holds public officials, businesses and individuals to account. Contact him at watchdog@courierjournal.com, 502-582-4989 or on Twitter @mattglo. Support Reader's Watchdog by subscribing today: courier-journal.com/mattg.
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