The recession caused many to stumble who never had trouble making their way before. A year ago in Dover, Chuck White, a 32-year-old construction worker, was unable to afford even the most basic monthly expenses for himself and his 9-year-old son. Today, he is in much better shape. He can pay his bills and he’s in school, aiming for a degree in construction management.

In the past 12 months, a number of factors helped transform Chuck’s life. A dinner at his house drew out many of those influences. NHPR's Jon Greenberg attended and from it, assembled this list of items to help you survive a recession. His report is part of our ongoing series on the economy, Working It Out. (Chuck's story, as many that appear in this series, first came to our attention as a note posted on the Working It Out web site.)

Consider yourself lucky to have dinner at Chuck’s, so long as you're not a vegetarian.

CHUCK: gonna have pork roast over garlic mashed potatoes and asparagus and cheese sauce.

Chuck takes a quick look in the oven where a log of pig meat brushed with seasonings and garlic sizzles in a rack. He hoists a pot of potatoes over to the stove. Chuck clearly enjoys cooking for friends and tonight, some of the more important people in his life are coming over.

CHUCK: my friends joke.. the freshman 15 they call it .. it’s a lifestyle change to go from working construction .. to reading books, sitting at computer all day.

Chuck just finished his first semester at Great Bay Community College where he's working his way through the basic required courses. His goal is to finish at a four-year college.

A year ago, his focus was much more day to day. He's a general purpose carpenter and his income plummeted as construction jobs dried up.

CHUCK: It wasn’t absolutely no work.. I was able to pay 2/3 of the rent .. there's was always something left over that wasn't getting paid..

The lack of money can be grim but not necessarily overwhelming. In our recession survival list, let Item One be friends.

Many people helped Chuck and his son Chase get through the fall of 2008. Two of them arrive right now.

DOG/DOOR: dog bark

That’s Chuck’s dog, Daisy.

door squeak –

Elliott and his 6-year-old daughter Kayla are often at Chuck's house and as the two fathers talk, Kayla takes off giggling.

CHUCK/KAYLA: you want to turn the light on in Chase's room// giggles// Aren’t you sneaky //

Elliott, like Chuck, is a single Dad. Not by any particular intention, Chuck has a circle of single Dad friends. In the days before the recession, Elliott made a very good living selling cars. Among the group, he was doing better than any of them.

ELLIOTT: during when he was going through his turmoil .. we would come by, I would bring food, he would cook. I'd bring my daughter .. he would have his son. We'd eat like kings for that day .. it kept the cost down. it was good to be with friends. If you had bad situations.

If Chuck's friends kept his emotional life anchored, his finances remained in limbo. So get ready for the second item on our list. The kindness of strangers.

In October, the story of Chuck’s struggles showed up in the newspaper and soon after that, Chuck got a call from someone he’d never met, Mike Rafford. Rafford said he wanted to meet Chuck and the two spent an hour over coffee. Rafford told Chuck to call him if he needed help but Chuck didn’t.

CHUCK: Pride gets in the way, you prefer to think you can get by . I would have.. but Christmas Eve.. he showed up with a bag of food, a bottle of wine, gift cards for gas, gift card to Best Buy. A gift card to the grocery store.. When he was introduced to Chase.. I walked him to the front door and were' standing at the door and he says I just want to let you know that your rent is paid. And at the time, my rent was a 1,000. at the time I had 400 to my name .. there was no way I was going to make rent . AT that time, with tears in my eyes I gave Mike a big hug and said thank you.

That was a year ago. Mike Rafford is coming tonight, but first, there’s more cooking.

SFX:stirring

CHUCK: We're making the cheese sauce.

As the asparagus steams, Mike arrives.

CHUCK: come in, dog..

Mike is 50-ish, wearing jeans and a loose fitting brown shirt -- a UNH cap perched on his head.

MIKE: little dessert couldn't come empty handed.

?
Mike's Christmas eve gift last year did more than ease Chuck's burden, it spurred him to act. Chuck says he didn’t want that generosity to be wasted.

He determined that he would go to school.

Under the federal stimulus program, he found that he qualified for 12,000 dollars in government grants and subsidized loans.

It was a lot but not quite enough. Which brings us to Item Three on our list: Individual initiative.

Chuck had one other card he could play. Alaska.

CHUCK: The idea of going to AK was to earn enough money that between the Pell grant and student loan and everything else, I could pay the rent for the year and that I wouldn't have to worry about getting the rent paid. The whole plan was to get ahead of the game so I could stay in the game

Going to Alaska sounds pretty extreme but actually, it was easier for Chuck than it would be for most people. His parent's live in Alaska so he had a place to stay. They had frequent flyer miles to pay for his ticket out there. And he had connections to find work. So that's where he spent the spring and summer, much of the time assembling metal buildings. His son was able to join him. Add to our list item number four: family.

Basically, the plan worked. Chuck might not have made as much money as he hoped but he was able to pay half the year’s rent in advance and get a better price.

DINNER SOUNDS: cheers , glass clinking . Thanks for the great food.

Sitting around the table, wine glasses full and plates even more so, Elliott, Mike and Chuck mark the change between a year ago and now. For Mike, this is his reward for spending about 1500 dollars on a near total stranger.

MIKE: It seems like you’re in a good place. that makes my holiday.

Mike downplays the significance of what he did. He says when he met Chuck last year, he saw someone who was, through no fault of his own, in a difficult spot. He thinks it’s unfortunate if what he did is considered exceptional.

MIKE: A lot of people in a position to give and don't know how to give. It's not that difficult. What are doing, hoarding acorns for Armageddon?

It would be easy to see this night simply as a celebration of personal gifts - a living Norman Rockwell tableau. But Chuck himself is the first to acknowledge the value of the last item on our list: government aid. As much as he'd rather see a smaller less intrusive government, he makes no bones about the difference Washington's money has made for him.

CHUCK: Being a single father, if I wasn't able to get food stamps, I would definitely be in the exact same place I was last year. Those programs are the very difference of keeping my head above water.
This economy has put millions of people in a state of transition. If Chuck's life is any guide, their successful passage will hinge on many strengths. Their own will, the support of their friends and family, the right government aid, and perhaps the most inspiring of all, despite Mike’s protests to the contrary, the kindness of strangers.

For NHPR News, I'm Jon Greenberg.