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Overjoyed in March after receiving a handwritten letter from President Barack Obama in response to her own letter to him, Jennifer Cline was crushed Monday, having just sold the White House memento to a New York-based autograph dealer.
It was the last thing that Cline, 28, a nursing student, wanted to do.
Her unemployment benefits had run out; past-due medical bills from cancer treatments remain unpaid. Pool-maintenance business has been slow for her husband, Jason Cline.
The Clines twice had turned down autograph dealer Gary Zimet's offers since the spring, but they drove to New York on Friday and sold him the letter Saturday morning.
They got $7,000. "This was the one thing of value that we had," Jason Cline said.
Jason said the couple declined Zimet's initial $3,000 and $5,000 offers. They accepted his final $7,000 offer and drove to New York. The letter already is posted for resale on his website www .momentsintime.com.
"My wife wanted to keep it as a memento," Jason said. "It was a last-resort kind of thing."
He said they plan to use the money to pay debt, to start a college fund for their 9- and 2-year-old sons and to make a down payment to buy a home.
In a three-page letter Jennifer sent to Obama in December, she wrote about how she and her husband lost their jobs in 2007 and how she battled two kinds of skin cancer without health insurance.
She also wrote that she had gone back to college with her tuition covered by Pell grants.
Obama responded: "I know times are tough, but knowing there are folks out there like you and your husband give me confidence that things will keep getting better."
It was signed: Barack Obama.
Jason said there's no irony to Obama's "confidence that things will keep getting better" amid their financial hardship.
"We're still looking forward to voting him back into office in two years," he said. "I wish we could've held on to it."
Obama loses ground in the House of Representatives, Senate and Governor's seats, sure hope that those words will comfort himself.
It was the last thing that Cline, 28, a nursing student, wanted to do.
Her unemployment benefits had run out; past-due medical bills from cancer treatments remain unpaid. Pool-maintenance business has been slow for her husband, Jason Cline.
The Clines twice had turned down autograph dealer Gary Zimet's offers since the spring, but they drove to New York on Friday and sold him the letter Saturday morning.
They got $7,000. "This was the one thing of value that we had," Jason Cline said.
Jason said the couple declined Zimet's initial $3,000 and $5,000 offers. They accepted his final $7,000 offer and drove to New York. The letter already is posted for resale on his website www .momentsintime.com.
"My wife wanted to keep it as a memento," Jason said. "It was a last-resort kind of thing."
He said they plan to use the money to pay debt, to start a college fund for their 9- and 2-year-old sons and to make a down payment to buy a home.
In a three-page letter Jennifer sent to Obama in December, she wrote about how she and her husband lost their jobs in 2007 and how she battled two kinds of skin cancer without health insurance.
She also wrote that she had gone back to college with her tuition covered by Pell grants.
Obama responded: "I know times are tough, but knowing there are folks out there like you and your husband give me confidence that things will keep getting better."
It was signed: Barack Obama.
Jason said there's no irony to Obama's "confidence that things will keep getting better" amid their financial hardship.
"We're still looking forward to voting him back into office in two years," he said. "I wish we could've held on to it."
Obama loses ground in the House of Representatives, Senate and Governor's seats, sure hope that those words will comfort himself.
