Support Group for Unemployed Offers an Oasis

Things could be worst, Larry Sutter reasoned.

"Things are not good, but they're not terrible either," said Sutter, 64. "I put both feet on the floor every morning. I could be a hell of a lot worse off."

Sutter is rational, but more than a little strain is revealed in his voice as he recounts the last three years. He's back at work now as a furniture salesman, but he estimates he only makes about 20 percent of his previous $150,000 yearly salary as a buyer of home collectibles. It was a job for which he traveled the world and at times lived abroad, seeking Hummel figurines and other knickknacks for Mikasa, a high-end dinnerware company.

But the economic downturn in 2008 transformed the industry and him. He recently sold his home in Westampton, NJ, hoping to recoup part of a nest egg he now uses for living expenses. But that didn't work out so well either.

"I thought I'd walk away with $100,000," Sutter said. "I was 18 months ahead on principle payments. Instead, I only made $20,000. It wasn't a short sale, but it took a year and a half to do it."

He now lives in a small apartment in Cherry Hill.

One of the comforts Sutter found in turbulent times was the Job Seekers Support Group of Haddonfield United Methodist Church. He joined several support groups after being laid off, but this one kept him coming back.

"Haddonfield was a little more of a support group than a networking group," Sutter said. "In a networking group you have to be up constantly selling yourself. Haddonfield was the type of place where if you had a problem or an issue you could discuss it."

Sutter no longer attends the support group because he's usually working on Thursday mornings. He is part of the changing nature of the group now.

Haddonfield Patch first visited it in December 2010 and found an open, hopeful group that welcomed a reporter. Last month, the group preferred to meet privately and not invite a reporter in, but a leader spoke after the meeting.

“There’s no God agenda here,” said the Rev. George Morris, senior pastor of the United Methodist Church where the meetings are held. “But it’s never a pity party. We acknowledge how awful it feels and then, by common agreement, we know we’re here to help each other move forward.”

Morris said the support group is not going to get someone a job.

"The person has to do that," he said. "But the simple act of empathizing, of helping someone else through an experience that you yourself have had, or are having, is very powerful.”

After meeting once a week for the last two years, the group is now only meeting on the first Thursday of every month, at 8:30 a.m. at the church at 29 Warwick Rd. Dwindling membership forced the change, he said. Some interpreted it as a sign of an improving economy.

But Sutter knows better.

"I think that our whole society has changed drastically," he said. "A lot of (stuff) hit the fan in the last five years. Nobody knows how we'll come out."

Sutter said he doesn't think it makes a difference who wins the American presidency this year, as far as the economy is concerned.

"I don't think John McCain could have done any better," he said.

He's a little more certain about his own fate.

"This is the worst I've seen in my 64 years," he said. "When I lost a job before, I'd bounce back. I was single and never had a family. This time, because of age, mentally, I don’t have the time to bounce back."