Maria Lauro was a 99-weeker -- the slang term for people who have exhausted the 99 weeks of regular and emergency unemployment compensation.

Ms. Lauro, 46, of Point Breeze, had been the public relations officer for the Wilkinsburg schools. Her job there wasn't just a paycheck, it had also provided her family's health benefits since her husband is an independent contractor.

When her job was eliminated in June 2008, Ms. Lauro was not very worried. It had never taken her longer than three months to find a job.

Then, that September, Wall Street investment firms started to collapse and she realized this was no ordinary recession.

At first she figured she would enroll her 10-year-old son, Leo L. Sweeney, in the state Children's Health Insurance Program. But in order for Leo to receive insurance from the state, he had to have been uninsured for at least six months.

That just wasn't a chance Ms. Lauro or her husband were willing to take, so the bulk of Ms. Lauro's unemployment check went to the COBRA program to pay for health insurance for their family.

"If I hadn't been married, Leo and I would not have survived on what my unemployment [compensation] was," she said.

Months and then years went by, and Ms. Lauro was still not working. She calculates that the time she was out of work set her family back two years financially as they struggled to live without her paycheck.

Ms. Lauro decided to volunteer for The Power of 32, an economic development project for the 32 counties in Pennsylvania, Ohio, West Virginia and Maryland that make up the upper Ohio River watershed.

She loved the people she was working with, and when a position became available, she applied and got the job.

"I came in to work on my first official day to find an orchid plant on my desk to say how happy they were to have me," she said.

The pay is less than she was making in her previous job, although the benefits are comparable, but she said she was much happier in her new position.

And even more than the working conditions, she said, she is happy that her family will have both her income and benefits.

"It's just such a relief," she said. "The stress and not knowing when it was going to end. Compared to last year, we are just in a much better place."

"Money Q&A" and "Company Town" are featured exclusively at PG+, a members-only web site of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Our introduction to PG+ gives you all the details.