or meatball marinara. just $2 each! just 2 bucks! are you kidding me? there's no competition. male announcer ] prices and participation may vary. subway. eat fresh. we are the poor people. how did we get to this? >> it is a question a lot of americans are asking. >> we prepared for a rainy day, but instead we faced a hurricane. >> knocked flat by the great recession. out of work, out of luck, out of time. >> the day momma told us we were getting evicted i think now was the hardest time. >> this is the story of one town, three families, no jobs. >> i felt like my world is crumbling around me. >> how the families fought back.

>> how bad did you want that job. >> what they lost. >> by thinking back, don't let go. >> and what they found. >> i did a lot of growing up. >> america now, the town that jobs forgot. good evening, welcome to "dateline." i'm lester holt. when the great recession started in 2007, no one thought this is where we would be four years later. worries about a double dip recession, the stock market riding a roller coaster, unemployment still over 8%. tonight to try to understand the numbers, we focus on people. three women out of work, much longer than they ever expected. they know what it is like to go for months, even years, without a paycheck, and how it feels to tell your family the money has finally run out. these are their stories. but together, these women have something to teach all the millions of other americans out there, each and every day,

looking for a job. driving south on highway 25, it is easy to miss the small church going community of millen. nestled in the green plains of jenkins county, it is but a blip on the georgia state map. if you decided to stop for a quick meal at vera's kitchen, a sunday church service or a tank of gas, you would be sure to hear some small town gossip. you'd hear that kimberly thompson, a single mother of three, was wondering how she could provide for her daughters after she lost her factory job. >> it was very painful. i didn't see it coming. >> or that crystal chance was sitting in her empty restaurant, alone, and dejekted after she was forced to shut it down. >> a part of me was sad, but this was a decision i had to make. i didn't have a choice.

>> or someone might tell you that sandy beckton, a former bank vice president had already applied for more than 50 jobs, and hadn't been offered a single one. >> my family needs for me to work because i need to support my family. >> and you realize like in so many small towns and cities across america, life in mill millen was a struggle to make ends meet. more than two years we were told the recovery started, unemployment still ruled here, and amid fears another recession is just around the corner, the stories of sandy, kimberly and crystal may bring us closer to understanding why. >> i was born and raised in millen. i lived here my whole life. >> years ago, she said it was like the fictitious town from the andy griffith show. >> we knew everybody, had a good time, like mayberry.

>> and just like there, your job defined who you were. in millen, everybody knew sandy was the woman from the bank. she had been there almost 30 years, after all. >> i got married when i worked at the bank, had my baby when i worked at the bank. eventually, became the first female vice president and only female vice president in the bank of millen. >> founded in 1881, it transformed from a railroad and agricultural hub into a factory town of 3500 people, almost half of jenkins county's population. various plants in manufacturing, clothes, and home products employed three quarters of the work force, including this single mom, kimberly thompson who worked as a quality control specialist for a factory, manufacturing mobile homes. >> i was great at my job. and i loved it because the money was great. >> in the past, kimberly, a high

school graduate, with no college education had struggled to support her family. she knew what it was like to survive on low paying, temporary jobs and meager unemployment benefits. >> we made it work, you know. it was hard, but we made it work. >> but by 2006, tim better didn't need to make it work. she managed to move the family from government assisted housing into a four bedroom, two bath rental. living large. >> yes, i was. my own bathroom. what woman don't want her own bathroom. >> poverty was in the rearview mirror. >> yes. way back. >> the american dream. back then in millen, before unemployment and subprime mortgages and high gas prices, it felt tangible and close. >> we worked hard. i kind of felt like we deserved everything that we had. >> for 13 years, crystal chance owned crystal's taste of

country, a popular restaurant that catered to the mill millen factories. >> fried pork chops, rotisserie glazed chicken. country fried steak and gravy, fried green tomatoes, squash, everything you could fry. it is more than just food. we've always been proud to say we make you feel like family. >> as the customers and cash kept coming, crystal and her husband, a maintenance supervisor at a local factory, thought they were ready to fulfill a lifelong dream, their own beautiful house, which they built in 2003, just 300 yards from the restaurant. >> here is the home. >> this is the home. >> quite a home. >> yes, sir. we were very proud of it. you build your dream home. that's part of the american dream. work hard to do right. save your money, have good credit, build your house, what

you're supposed to do. >> and out of the economy, mixed signals starting with a jobs report. it indicates this country has already slid into a recession, 17,000 jobs gone in a month. >> the great recession hit millen like a ferocious tornado. between 2007 and 2009, all the factories that kept it running closed shop or relocated overseas. about 1300 people lost their jobs. >> laid off, no severance pay. >> no severance pay. >> what did you tell the kids when you walked in the house that day? >> i didn't go home and say oh, i got laid off, we got to change things. i didn't do it. >> inside were you feeling this? >> yes. i'm going to have to make some changes. >> at the bank, sandy saw the crisis coming. >> our customers, they're not

cashing checks, making deposits because they don't have jobs any more. >> in retrospect, sandy should have known she could be next, but she was surprised that day when a woman called and asked her to come to bank headquarters. >> it was a monday, march 24th, 2008. she said this is going over the whole company wide today, 6% people are being eliminated and your position is one of them. it was like i was in a dream. in a fog. i felt like my world is crumbling around me. things got bad quick. it is almost like a blur when i think about it. i have chill bumps now. >> as companies lost town, crystal lost most of her catering business. then regular customers stopped coming to eat, like the group who for years showed up every thursday for crystal's famous pork chops. >> there was 15 guys coming, and then there were only 7, then

only 2. it adds up. >> the final realization came on a dismal friday in february, 2009. >> that friday i said this is it. i cannot lose any more money. that was probably one of the worst times in my life. all these years i been crystal, the food lady. when we closed the restaurant, i felt like i was nothing. i lost my identity. >> in millen, an entire community couldn't recognize itself, and a closer look in the mirror would reveal it had all been inevitable. coming up, how easy money made it hard to say no. >> we spent way too much money. we were going to have a swimming pool, going to have the granite countertops and chandeliers. ri now, the town that jobs forgot continues. when a sore throat strikes, the pain can leave you feeling dreadful.

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by the end of 2009, the vibrant millen everyone had known was gone. abandoned factories littered what once had been a picture perfect landscape. the boarded-up shops along cotton avenue told a tragic story of anxiety and despair. >> if you think about what happened to millen, it really is a microcosm of what happened to

our economy overall. >> reporter: yale university professor jacob hacker is part of a group which has been tracking the economic and emotional well-being of american working families during the recession. he said it was the nature of the downturn that virtually assured the destruction of millen's economy. >> the housing crisis. >> the housing crisis. >> reporter: hit this place hard. >> and millen's factory jobs were really almost all associated with producing things for the construction market for housing. so when the housing market essentially dried up, that meant that all of the construction-related industries were just completely, completely crushed. >> reporter: before the recession, jenkins county had an unemployment rate of a little more than 4%. a couple of months into the downturn, it rocketed to number one in the state of georgia. by the time all the factories shut down, it had risen to a catastrophic 20%, more than

double the u.s. average. at the time it was probably easy to look at one factory closure in a vacuum by itself, and then another by itself. >> yeah. >> reporter: at some point it becomes a tsunami. >> yes, it's a tsunami that crests and then crashes and the waves spill out through the community. >> reporter: and then kimberly, in the housing industry, inevitable she'll lose her job. krystal's restaurant. >> right. >> reporter: factories that were putting money in sandy's bank, no longer putting money there. sandy loses her job. >> when a plant closes in a large city, that's a problem, but when a plant closes in a small town like millen, that's a disaster. it is a huge part of the community. it's like tearing the fabric of the community apart and tearing the lives of the people who are affected apart. >> reporter: it was april 2009 when a tsunami hit krystal full force. two months after she closed the restaurant, her husband's

factory left town, and he lost his job. the only money coming in now was his unemployment check, about 80% less than what the family used to make. but of course, all the usual monthly payments remained. utilities, health and life insurance, and most daunting, the huge mortgage payment on their house. >> i know that we spent way too much money. we were going to have a swimming pool, we were going to have the granite countertops and the chandeliers and the hardwood floors. there were things we were going to have this in house. >> reporter: krystal remembered it had been surprisingly easy to get financing for their dream home. she said the bank told her this was a risk-free investment and she only had to put 5% down. it was an eerily familiar script written hundreds of thousands of times in prerecession america. like so many others, krystal and her husband had been lured by easy money and now found themselves stuck with a house

they couldn't sell and a mortgage they couldn't afford. >> i felt like a failure. you know, i've let my family down. >> reporter: you wanted that house. >> yes. >> reporter: and then in retrospect, you were regretting it? >> yeah. we didn't even want the house. it's not like a car that you can roll back up to the dealership and say my lease is up. >> reporter: krystal approached the bank about modifying the mortgage, but she was told she would have to default first before anything could be done. the family had some savings, but they were vanishing rather quickly. >> you're supposed to have at least three months of income. and so we did. we had that. but as the time went on and you know may turn into june, june to july, july to august, i would come out to the back steps and just sit and think, what is the next thing that we need to do? and we really didn't know.

it was a funk, a lull that i was in, and i couldn't shake it. i think all the positivity was gone. it was crushed. like thinking back on that, oh, don't make me cry. >> reporter: krystal had already lost her restaurant. would her dream home be next? coming up -- would kimberly lose one of her dreams?

former bank vice president sandy becton was one of the lucky few. shortly after she was laid off

in 2008 she found another job as a branch manager at a bank in a neighboring town. it had been so easy, sandy admitted, that it gave her a false sense of confidence. >> you know, when i worked in the bank, they'd come in with their checks. and you know, they really got on my nerves. i'd say here they are unemployment. they're not even trying to get a job. so i didn't really realize that, you know, people are struggling. they can't find jobs. they don't know where their next paycheck is going to come from. >> reporter: people like kimberly thompson. >> $330.18. >> reporter: unemployment checks kept kimberly and her daughters afloat, but it wasn't enough to pay the bills. >> that's a lot. >> reporter: kimberly was forced to declare bankruptcy. were you afraid you were going to slip back into the life of poverty that you had before? >> i wasn't going to let my children -- we were not -- i refused to go back to the way it was. >> reporter: but that's exactly what her oldest daughter was afraid of. >> when she got laid off, he was pretty sad.

she stayed in her room away from us because she didn't want it to affect us. she didn't want us to know how bad it was. >> reporter: she hoped her mom would find another job quickly and everything would be okay. instead mom told her they had to move out of their home. >> the day mama told us we were getting evicted, i think that was the hardest time. i can say this was one of the first times i was kind of worried, whether do we go, what are we going to do? mama just lost her job, now we're getting evicted. >> reporter: this is where kimberly worked. >> kimberly's lost her job. she's facing eviction. how deep is the hole at this point? >> let's not sugarcoat it, right? the unemployment rate is higher for people with limited education, and it is harder to find a job when you're just scraping by at home. when you look at what happened during this downturn, the unemployment rate for african-americans has been consistently twice the rate for

white americans. >> reporter: at some point does kimberly become invisible in the job market? >> well, she may not become invisible, but she may become unemployable. there's a saying that when white america gets a cold, black america gets pneumonia. and lots of black americans are suffering from pneumonia today. >> reporter: kimberly may have been looking at an uncertain future, but she was determined that shanice, a straight-a student did not. >> i always knew that shanice could possibly get an academic scholarship. and even if i had to work three jobs to fund her college, i was willing to do it. >> we always thought that i would go to college and i would go to medical school and become a doctor. >> reporter: what kind of doctor? >> a pediatrician. >> reporter: but that was all before her mom lost her job and the family plunged back into poverty. shanice was 16, old enough, she

thought, to see the handwriting on the wall. so she made a decision. she told her mom after she graduated from high school, she would join the army. >> oh, my heart fell to my feet. that's not what i wanted to hear from my child. >> reporter: and you say what? >> no. no. not an option. we're going to stick to the plan. >> reporter: you and your mom had a plan, the plan was college, medical school, pediatrician. what happened to it? >> you know, i saw the economy going down. and i started seeing like a lot of commercials with -- and not only did i see the commercials with the guys, you know, join the army, but i saw the girls joining the army as well. and i said, hey, maybe i can do this and i wouldn't have to worry about mama having to struggle more than what we were to pay for my college. >> reporter: you were getting straight as, you could have qualified for many a scholarship, financial aid. did you think about that?

>> yeah, i thought about it. i do have a lot of people, you know, that say i'm making a mistake, i shouldn't do it. i'm going to regret it. i tell them it's a decision that i made for myself and i'm not living for anyone else. it's something that i made for me that i felt would make me a better person. >> reporter: across town, another daughter found herself at the crossroads. >> maybe in the world we weren't rich, but to us in millen we were pretty rich. >> reporter: krystal's daughter whitley had grown accustomed to getting what she wanted. now the family's restaurant was gone, the parents were unemployed and struggling to save the home. but she was having trouble letting go. >> this happened at the same time that i turned 16. i had been looking at cars for a year. and of course i was getting a brand new car, you know? >> reporter: why wouldn't you? >> who wants a used car? and then i ended up not even getting a car at all for my 16th birthday.

i had an immature mind at 16, and you know, part of me understood we're in a bad financial situation. then part of me was looking around. all my other friends got new cars. why didn't i get a new car. >> reporter: whitley's fall from privilege would be swift. it would compromise a childhood dream and bring her family face-to-face with something just a few months before had been unimaginable. did you look around and say these are the people i see on tv, these are those stories i read about and we're them. >> like we are the poor people. how did we get to this? >> reporter: soon, there would be another surprise. >> mama told me i had no idea how we're going to pay for your college. >> when "america now, the town that jobs forgot" continues. this team of guinea pigs to row this tiny boat.

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to make ends meet krystal and her family started a new business, printing and embroidering caps and t-shirts. it paid the bills and their mortgage, but barely. suddenly there was no money left for basic essentials like health insurance. >> we've never been uninsured,

but we could not pay $864 a month for insurance. that was out. that was ridiculous. >> reporter: when it rains, of course, it pours. in quick succession, both of krystal's daughters had medical emergencies. suddenly the family owed doctors more than $4,000. krystal could only see one solution to make sure her daughters could get the care they needed. medicaid. >> i remember going to the doctor and having to show them the card that we got. and i was so embarrassed. you know, because i know everybody was looking at me thinking, she's not poor. how did she get on medicaid? >> as much as i do not like talking about this, we had to do it. we've never had to ask for help. we never had to ask for help and we had to ask for help. and that was hard.

>> reporter: so this is krystal's restaurant. it means so much to her. when krystal tells me her story, i almost get this sense of shame in the sense of it only happened to me. >> it's happening to families like krystal's all across america. we found that between march 2008 and september 2009, one in four families had experienced a loss of income of 25% or greater. and this job crisis has become a health care crisis because as people lose their jobs, they're also losing their health insurance. 17 million middle class families are on medicaid. >> reporter: middle class families. >> middle class families. >> reporter: that's the dirty little secret here. >> that's the dirty little secret. >> reporter: medicaid is not just for the destitute. >> it's now a middle class safety net. what we're learning in this downturn is that we prepared for a rainy day but instead we faced a hurricane. >> reporter: this economic storm

was about to reach whitley, an honors student all through high school. she had decided to apply early to the university of georgia, her dream college. the answer came in december 2010. >> i got to check it online. >> reporter: your heart is beating out of your chest. >> i opened it up and there were firework. congratulations. you're a new bull pup. i was so excited. >> reporter: problem was no one else seemed to be. >> i didn't want to deal with it. i thought, that's good. i was thinking, how are we going to do this? >> reporter: it was going to cost a lot of money? >> a lot of money. >> reporter: krystal tried to interest whitley in other colleges they could afford. but she wouldn't listen. finally krystal had to spell it out for her daughter. >> mama told me, it's just not there. right now i have no idea how we're going to pay for your college. >> reporter: that must have hurt an awful lot to hear those words. >> it did. i was an honors student and i

got in early at uga. part of me felt like i deserved to be able to go there. >> reporter: sandy becton, now a bank branch manager in a nearby town thought she'd survived the recession. after all, it was almost a year since it had officially ended, and she still had a job. it wasn't until her boss called her in to his office in october 2010 when sandy realized no one was safe. >> again out of the blue, you know, we're reorganizing, and you're not going to be a part of it. there i am. and i'm in that spot again. i'm just sitting there thinking this can't happen twice to somebody. but now this time i'm thinking it's going to be hard to get a job. >> reporter: sandy was right. six months later she was still looking. almost a quarter of the more than 14 million people who are currently out of a job are workers older than 50. that translates to the highest unemployment rate in that age

group since world war ii. sandy had already applied for more than 50 jobs when she decided to go to her first ever job fair. >> what do i do just wander around and stick out my resume. >> whatever you can. >> i worked in a bank for 32 years already. can i give you my resume? >> please do. >> do you have a resume? >> i do. >> are you the recruiter? >> i work in the bank. looking for administrative or secretarial. well, my only disability is my age, i guess. here i am 52 years old and there are 22-year-old graduates there. and i'm thinking, you know, can i compete with them for a job? >> reporter: this is the bank that sandy worked at for something like 30 years, worked her way up to vice president. probably thought she had a job for life. do people like sandy have to come to a realization they're in a different more difficult category than the average unemployed person?

>> they are. because older workers face the toughest time getting back into the job market. let's just not kid ourselves, there is definitely discrimination against older workers. >> reporter: sandy is 52 years old. at 52, you get to that point of life you're on final approach to retirement. you're thinking about where do i stand. >> one in four older workers spent down all their savings during the great recession. >> reporter: and that creates a whole level of desperation in terms of where you set your sites. >> you need to get a job. >> reporter: i was a vice president before, now i'll take whatever you got. >> the cruel realty of the labor market when you're out of a job for a long time it gets harder and harder to get a new job. in this case, what that meant was someone who invested their whole life in a company and a community is suddenly facing a really bleak prospect. >> reporter: sandy kept trying and finally in may 2011, she thought she had a real chance at something. >> i put in for the job as the

secretary to the superintendent of schools here. and you know, i would be very good for that position, and that's the job i really want. >> reporter: 17 people applied for the position. the first stage of the hiring process was a skills test. that would determine the top five candidates the superintendent would interview. >> if you have questions, you know where i am. >> i can come ask? >> reporter: would sandy make to it the top five? would she get the job? a job it turns out someone else was also counting on. how bad did you want that job? >> i wanted it really bad. >> reporter: and as the economy in millen picks up steam, krystal dusts off her dream. >> i realize that this is it. this is my last chance right here. >> when "america w,nohe t town that jobs forgot" continues. e. we asked him to be part of an experiment to prove that febreze air effects can eliminate tough cooking odors.

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like in most of smalltown america, spring in millen brought with it easter egg hunts and school graduations. but for some, the spring of 2011 also brought with it something unexpected. jobs. a corrections company hired 140 locals to help build a large prison complex.

more importantly, once the prison was up and running in 2012, it would provide millen with more than 200 permanent jobs. in the old industrial area, stitch n print, a small clothing manufacturer that left millen in 2009 had reopened. for now, the company could hire 18 sewers at minimum wage, but it was a start. there was also some good news for krystal. her husband had found another job at the maintenance department of a local nuclear plant. she was able to join his health insurance plan and take the kids off medicaid. and her t-shirt business had grown so much she was able to open a little store in a town nearby. more importantly, she qualified for a government mortgage modification plan that drastically lowered her monthly payment. but for krystal, that wasn't enough. >> i just wanted everything to be like it was. i wanted to come back to the restaurant and have life.

>> reporter: krystal hoped to cash in on millen's small economic recovery. she even called prison officials to find out how much business she could expect from them, but she'd have to sell her t-shirt business to get the money to make repairs and buy new equipment. reopening the restaurant was a huge gamble. when you open this door again, was there a sense of failure is not an option? >> it was not. i realize that this is it. this is my last chance right here. >> reporter: did krystal make the right decision? she'd have a clue on what used to be one of millen's busiest restaurant days of the year. mother's day. >> it was either going to be huge or a flop. i had no idea if people were going to show up, and that morning we were at 200 definites. yes, we were happy. we were very happy. >> reporter: 200 reservations. that was far more than krystal had expected. >> we're bringing 16 chairs.

let me know when the sweet potatoes are done. >> i have 47 things teed -- to do. macaroni and cheese, cajun fried turkey breast, fried chicken, pot roast, chicken and dumplings and smoked ham. we were ready. this is going to be crazy. they're going to tell you where to sit. it was wonderful. how are you? i just wanted to hug every single person that came in here and tell them thank you so much for coming to eat with us. and whether or not their financial situation has changed, they made an honest attempt to come and support us. >> the food is good. it's always good. we're just about ready to go back to the dessert bar. >> reporter: there was sandy and her family celebrating mother's day at krystal's restaurant.

after the meal, sandy's daughter gave her a card and gift and a special wish for mother's day. >> a job. and money because she deserves everything. she's really -- she's been awesome to me even though she hasn't had the money, she's provided. >> i'll do whatever it takes for you. >> reporter: it's been tough. in order to make her may mortgage and health insurance payments, sandy has had to dip into her 401(k) retirement account for the first time. but there was some cause for optimism. sandy had made it into the final interview group for the assistant to the school superintendent job. springtime was also prom time in millen. a bittersweet moment for kimberly and shanice.

it had taken a while, but kimberly now fully supported her daughter's decision to enlist. what made you change your mind? >> she stood up to me. she stood up to me. and she said, mom, this is what i want to do. and i can't fathom my child leaving and feeling like i don't have my mother's blessing. i didn't want that. so i had to accept it. >> reporter: it had been difficult to find joy a couple of years back when kimberly lost her good job and the family was evicted. kimberly knew that if she wanted to have a chance at a better life, she couldn't just wait for the next low skilled job to come around. >> it began to hit me, you should have went to college. it's time to do something better. you know, it's time career move. >> reporter: kimberly enrolled full time in a community college majoring in special education. loans, grants and unemployment benefits were enough to support

the family as they found a cheaper but still comfortable home in town. >> it might not be a four-bedroom two-bath, but i'm here and it's possible that i have to start here again, and we're going to bounce back. >> to the best mother in the world. oh, my god. >> reporter: days like mother's day kept kimberly going. >> shanice wrote me a lovely poem, and she put an excerpt from maya angelou "still i rise" poem. she knows that poem is very inspirational to me. that's my favorite poem. >> reporter: and kimberly needed the inspiration. after more than two years without work, she had run out of unemployment benefits. if she wanted to continue her college education and support her family, she needed a job.

already had one in mind. a secretary position at the board of education. the same job sandy becton had set her sights on. how bad did you want that job? >> i wanted it really bad. i mean, i felt like i was the prime candidate for the job. >> reporter: kimberly was scheduled to take the test on the same day as sandy. but then -- >> the accident. can't believe it happened -- i still can't believe it happened. hey, your high speed internet here, at home... ...and on the go... ...with some really big news. it's b-i-g -- big. high speed internet from at&t at home... ...includes wi-fi access on the go. woo-hoo! [ together ] it's an unbelievable deal. well, gotta go. but wait -- there's more... [ female announcer ] go to the website below today and get high speed internet for the unbelievably low price of just 14.95 a month for 12 months

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in may 2011 kimberly was driving home to get ready for an important job test. now she found herself strapped

to a stretcher in a speeding ambulance. what did you think about when you were in the ambulance? >> i would be dishonest if i say i'm thinking i'm alive, i'm okay. i wasn't. i was thinking, i am going to miss my interview today. i'm going to miss my interview. >> reporter: kimberly was lucky. her injuries were not severe and she was able to leave the hospital that evening. doctors ordered her to stay off her feet for a couple of days. but kimberly didn't listen. come what may the job test had become her number one priority. >> even though i have an accident, i'm alive and well. i still need a job. determination and motivation. i got to work. you know? even if i don't get the job, you know, i got to try. >> good luck. >> thank you. >> reporter: unfortunately, kimberly did not make it to the next interview stage. >> i felt like the accident limited me.

of course i realized that's not the case. but i was very disappointed that i didn't get the job. >> reporter: sandy still had a chance. she made it into the final interview group. >> today is the anniversary of sort. it was seven months ago today that i lost my job. so seven months of job searching. and hopefully this is the one. >> reporter: it was not meant to be. you listened to enough stories here, you really find yourself questioning the american dream. does anybody still believe in that dream? >> right now four in ten americans say that the american dream no longer holds true. people in millen have felt like the american dream is battered, but at the same time they've got this strong perseverance and determination. and that's really what defines the american spirit, this constant forward look, this belief that you can overcome adversity.

>> reporter: will it ever be the way it was or will it be a different kind of recovery, a different millen? >> it will be a different millen and a different nation. you know millen's story is really america's story. if we see hope here in millen, it gives us hope that the american economy can come back as well. but let's not have false hope. the reality is that this economy has plummeted down off a cliff. and we're all climbing back up. >> reporter: millen was ready for the climb. in the last year, the town had certified more than 1200 people in a work ready program offering tax incentives to companies to entice them to come to millen and spruced up cotton avenue. millen's message to america was clear, come, we're open for business. like her town, sandy was not giving up. >> it's definitely a war and it's a battle. the people here that, you know, we bounce back. we keep trying. you know, we get put down and we get up.

and that's what i did. >> reporter: her faith and her family had supplied the courage to keep searching, sandy said. though she had not found a job yet, she had found something perhaps more important -- humility and compassion. >> i've been very fortunate and very blessed, but i'm not exempt. it can happen to me, too. i can lose a job. i can struggle. and so i'm just like everybody else. >> sometimes i still can't believe it. honestly. when i walk in and say, how in the world are we still here? how did we do this? >> reporter: krystal's home was her sanctuary once more, but the struggle to save it had given her a new perspective. she will never take her good fortune for granted again. >> i know there are some people in millen that had great jobs, good, hard working people that lost their homes. and our hearts break for those people. because it almost happened to us. and it still could.

i think we'll always feel like it still could happen to us. >> it will be official when i take this and put it over there. >> reporter: whitley was about to graduate from high school and go to college. after her mother's heartwrenching admission they couldn't afford to pay for her dream university, whitley applied and was accepted to georgia southern, a less expensive school, to which she could commute. but she decided to take it a step further. >> i applied to so many scholarships, i can't even tell you the amount of scholarships i applied to. some of the biggest in the nation, some of the smallest in our city, you know? i applied to everything. >> whitley clark. >> reporter: and she won quite a few. enough to cover the college cost for her entire freshman year. >> i kind of felt like it was time for me to take responsibility for my part in the family and kind of lift the burden off of them.

>> reporter: think back again to that 16-year-old girl who wanted the car. >> a kiwi green mercury mariner. >> reporter: what happened to that girl? >> i don't know. i was forced to grow up a little. i did a lot of growing up. >> shanice thompson salutarian. >> reporter: she was on her way to basic training in oklahoma, but that didn't keep her from graduating with honors. >> fellow graduates, parents, friends and family. >> reporter: what's the takeaway for the rest of us? what would the message be for other americans going through tough times? >> just don't lose faith. just continue to push forward. no matter what i go through, i will always rise above the negativity or the obstacles that come in my life.

i will rise above it all. >> reporter: kimberly knew these words by heart. they were in that poem shanice gave her on mother's day. it was perhaps a sign of these tough economic times that these words, written to inspire african-americans to overcome their struggles, now rang true for krystal and whitley and sandy. maybe for all the people of millen. >> out of the history shame up from the past that's rooted in pain, still i rise. leaving behind nights of terror and fear into a daybreak that's wondrously clear. bringing the gift that my ancestors gave, i am the dream and the hope of the slave. i rise, i rise, rise. >> reporter: and kimberly did rise. she's landed a job as a teacher's aide at a special education program in a town near millen. sandy becton has also started a new job.

its entry level and a long commute, but she has health benefits. that's all for now. i'm lester holt. that's all for now. i'm lester holt. thanks for joining us. -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com on this christmas sunday, a special conversation about the state of the country. and a look ahead. our own 2012 playbook, with keys to the new year. the presidential campaign, taxes, the economy, and jobs. national security, and other hot topics like health care and immigration. what you should look for in 2012. the major players, potential outcomes, and the biggest unknowns. with us, nbc's special correspondent and author of the book "the time of our lives," tom brokaw. "new york times" columnist and author of the book "that used to be us," tom friedman. president of the national urban league and former mayor of new orleans, marc morial.

and columnist for the washington post, kathleen parker. and in a special christmas day reflection, we'll hear from the former archbishop of washington, cardinal theodore mccarrick. >> christmas day is a season of hope, a season of expectation, a season of love. >> good morning. and merry christmas. 2011, almost behind us now, so many key questions as we head into the new year, and for the next hour we've assembled a terrific group to talk about the year ahead, and a reflection on where the country has been this year. joining me, nbc's tom brokaw. tom friedman, kathleen parker. marc morial. welcome to all of you and merry christmas. >> merry christmas. >> merry christmas to you. >> i suspect, tom brokaw, that families are getting together on this holiday, and there's gifts and ths