Erin B.

Recently I recalled the scene in the movie Erin Brockovich where there is little food in the cabinet and a roach crawls over her foot and she drops the can she was opening (with a hand held opener the best I can remember). So she takes her kids out to lunch and lets them order whatever they want, but she only orders coffee. I guess I thought about it because working here and passing by our distribution dock throughout the day - I wonder about the lives of our clients.

I know right now I have a cousin who should and would qualify to get food from us, but can't afford to take off work to go get a voucher and redeem it. She is doing the best she can to provide for her 3 year-old son. I am sure she either misses meals so he can eat, or they go to her parents' house a couple of times a week to eat. I just wonder how many of our clients are skipping meals so their kids can have food. And how many other people could use food assistance, but since about 49% of our families have someone working in the household - maybe they can't afford to take off from work to get the help they so desperately need.

I think this is an area we need to look at and address - the number of people who are unable to get assistance because of the office hours we keep. Maybe this year we can help address this growing problem so our clients can still work, but also get help so no one has to skip meals.