During the 2006 Hunger Study, our Executive Director met with numerous clients at food pantries throughout the Houston area to collect data on who is seeking emergency food resources and why. The one who most stood out in his memory was Julie, a 30-year-old woman with two little girls, ages 5 and 8.
In talking to her, Julie revealed that it was her first visit to a food pantry. She was well-spoken and her clothes were clean and new. Madelyn and Alexandra, her daughters, were polite, but very quiet. The woman held a master’s degree in accounting and had just taken a very well-paying job.
She also told him about her husband, a jealous, abusive man. After years of abusing her, he had begun hitting the children. She feared for their lives. Just days before our Executive Director met her, she had left her husband in the middle of the night, taking only her girls and the clothes they were all wearing while he was sleeping. She had found a place for the three of them to live temporarily, found a job, enrolled the girls in a new school, and was trying to move on with her life. Her first paycheck would be delivered in two weeks. She and the girls would be just fine in the long run, but they did not have any food to get them through in the meantime.
The food pantry provided them with a bag of groceries, including cereal, canned vegetables, peanut butter, jelly, tuna fish, and even bread. The relief and gratitude were evident on her face and in her voice, as she thanked the volunteers filling the grocery bag. She had done all she could to protect the lives of her two young girls and simply needed a little bit of help. Now she knew they would all be alright.
