KANSAS CITY, Mo. — As the state of Missouri is working to process an overwhelming amount of unemployment claims, some individuals are starting to receive their stimulus funds.
Kimberly Newby-Dorsey, a Kansas City, Missouri resident, received a pleasant surprise Monday morning from the IRS.
"It said that it was pending, and I was just like, such a sigh of relief," Newby-Dorsey, a stimulus-check recipient, said. “We just knew that everything was going to be alright."
Once the check clears Newby-Dorsey, her children and husband will have $3,900 in stimulus relief.
When 41 Action News first met her last month, she was crunching the numbers and plans to stick to her original plan.
"Make sure you pay your bills," Newby-Dorsey said. "Yes, that stimulus is coming. But make sure you use it for your bills. Because six months from now, when everything's back to normal, you're going to be stuck with all these bills and how are you going to pay them with no job?"
Since Newby-Dorsey got laid off she has been collecting $59 a week in unemployment. Applying for it wasn't easy.
"The moment it struck eight o'clock and I hit all the numbers, it specifically said, all the call takers are busy right now, nobody there, the queue is completely full, try back," Newby-Dorsey said.
Clyde McQueen, president and CEO of the Full Employment Council, said folks will have to be patient.
"We just tell people, you must keep trying because the system is overloaded," McQueen said.
The Full Employment Council is guiding small businesses, the unemployed and independent contractors through the process.
"In Missouri, it's all done over the phone and so our phones have never had this much of a, you know, four, or five, six or 700% increase," McQueen said.
At the start of this month, more than 91,000 Missourians filed for unemployment insurance.
McQueen said many are curious on when they'll be able to collect.
"If you were laid off at this time, and you file but you don't get in until maybe two weeks later, it's still going to be retroactive," McQueen said.
Though claims in Missouri have spiked, the future is unclear, and that makes the crisis tougher to deal with.
"We understand what's happening to the people because many of the people who are being laid off, they are our neighbors," McQueen said.
Missourians who need to file for unemployment can visit: UInteract.Labor.MO.gov.
