KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Unemployment benefits were set to stop this weekend, but the latest COVID-19 relief bill extends them, giving those looking for a job a bit of breathing room.
Under the relief bill passed Wednesday, unemployment benefit recipients like Kimberly Newby-Dorsey will continue to receive an extra $300 per week on top of what she gets from the state of Missouri – only $59.
"With heat, electricity – If my kids need shoes, if they need something to deal with school, that's what it goes towards," Newby-Dorsey said, "and by the end of the week, it's gone."
41 Action News first met Newby-Dorsey last March when she discussed how she planned to spend the money from the first stimulus check.
Since then, she has struggled to find a job.
"I just don't try to get my hopes up," Newby-Dorsey said. "There's a difference between having hope and getting your hopes up."
To save money ahead of another stimulus check, she and her family bought a house in northern Clay County.
"Cause we couldn't rent anymore, the market wasn't where we needed it to be so we're going to use it to basically pay ourselves back for what we had to struggle or cut off to make this move," Newby-Dorsey said.
She plans to save the rest for bills and in case her unemployment benefits run out.
Those benefits have been extended until Sept. 6.
