Bryan Bihl isn’t sure how legal aid attorney Stefanie Ebbens managed to solve his mounting financial problems, but he’s grateful. “I’d probably be out on the streets if not for her,” Bihl said of Ebbens, of the Appalachian Research and Defense Fund of Kentucky who has been working since October to secure Social Security disability benefits for him and prevent foreclosure on his home.
Bihl, who lives in a log cabin in Burkesville, Ky., is one of the thousands of middle-class Americans who have fallen on hard times and now rely on free help through the country’s network of legal aid providers. Bihl’s odyssey from well-paid computer systems worker to recipient of free legal representation began in November 2008, when he was laid off from his job at the height of the financial crisis. Eight months later and still out of work, Bihl fell behind on his mortgage payments for his home, which he purchased in 2003 in part to be near his favorite fishing spot: Lake Cumberland.
