Barbara is a 57- year-old widowed retiree. In April 2003, Barbara’s home was destroyed in a fire and her husband died inside. She lost everything. “I went to college. We had a nice brick home, even and in-ground pool. My life took a spin and I lost everything,” she explains. Barbara previously worked in the admissions office at a state university, as a substitute teacher, and as a clerk in a law firm. However, she now suffers from severe osteoarthritis and her only income is the disability she claims each month.
She had knowledge of the Salvation Army because she had volunteered and donated previously. Barbara turned to the organization for help and stayed four months to get back on her feet. “Where I came from, this was not expected,” she says. “I am not ashamed. These are the cards I was dealt. This is not for uneducated, drug users, or abusive alcoholics; this is for people that have been dealt a hand of cards that they cannot trade. We just have to keep living.”
Barbara currently lives in her own apartment and volunteers a minimum of five days a week at the Salvation Army. “Monday through Sunday, I am here. If they need me, I will be here. I may be disabled, but I can help.”
Barbara wants donors to know that their generosity is greatly appreciated. “A big thank you for everything you do and the happiness you inspire. Please know what either end of this cycle is beautiful. Giving and receiving food is a loving place.”
July 31, 2008
USA: Senior citizens latest victims of economic hardships
TYLER, Texas (KETK News), July 31, 2008:
By Tamara Jolee, KETK News
With high-priced bills and groceries, the East Texas Food Bank reports seniors are putting themselves at risk by skipping meals.
The East Texas Meals on Wheels Ministry, Inc.,provides food for seniors and the disabled during the week. They say for the first time in its 35-year history, there is a waiting list to get food.
Eighty-nine-year-old Hugh Denson has volunteered with the organization for 25 years. Each day, he bags up sack lunches, battles the Texas heat and drives the streets of Tyler delivering meals to senior citizens and disabled veterans, who otherwise would go hungry.
"I get more out of doing it, than Meals On Wheels gets out of me," Denson, who moved to Tyler in 1945, said.
While Denson says he loves volunteering, he doesn't like the role economic hardships have played to seniors on his route.
Neither do Meals On Wheels organizers who said months ago, they noticed an unsettling trend of older adults rationing food to make it through the weekend. Since the organization only delivers during the week, they said something had to be done.
That something, turned out to be a combined effort by Meals On Wheels and the East Texas Food Bank to serve lunch to seniors on the weekend.
The program is called Senior Servings.
Since so many seniors live on a fixed income, Senior Servings ensures that no senior must choose between paying bills and having enough to eat by providing them with containers of well-balanced, nutritious food to last them through the weekend.
According to the East Texas Food Bank, $156 feeds a senior weekend food for an entire year.
Copyright 2006 ComCorp of Tyler Inc
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Barbara is a 57- year-old widowed retiree. In April 2003, Barbara’s home was destroyed in a fire and her husband died inside. She lost everything. “I went to college. We had a nice brick home, even and in-ground pool. My life took a spin and I lost everything,” she explains. Barbara previously worked in the admissions office at a state university, as a substitute teacher, and as a clerk in a law firm. However, she now suffers from severe osteoarthritis and her only income is the disability she claims each month.
She had knowledge of the Salvation Army because she had volunteered and donated previously. Barbara turned to the organization for help and stayed four months to get back on her feet. “Where I came from, this was not expected,” she says. “I am not ashamed. These are the cards I was dealt. This is not for uneducated, drug users, or abusive alcoholics; this is for people that have been dealt a hand of cards that they cannot trade. We just have to keep living.”
Barbara currently lives in her own apartment and volunteers a minimum of five days a week at the Salvation Army. “Monday through Sunday, I am here. If they need me, I will be here. I may be disabled, but I can help.”
Barbara wants donors to know that their generosity is greatly appreciated. “A big thank you for everything you do and the happiness you inspire. Please know what either end of this cycle is beautiful. Giving and receiving food is a loving place.”
Barbara is a 57- year-old widowed retiree. In April 2003, Barbara’s home was destroyed in a fire and her husband died inside. She lost everything. “I went to college. We had a nice brick home, even and in-ground pool. My life took a spin and I lost everything,” she explains. Barbara previously worked in the admissions office at a state university, as a substitute teacher, and as a clerk in a law firm. However, she now suffers from severe osteoarthritis and her only income is the disability she claims each month.
She had knowledge of the Salvation Army because she had volunteered and donated previously. Barbara turned to the organization for help and stayed four months to get back on her feet. “Where I came from, this was not expected,” she says. “I am not ashamed. These are the cards I was dealt. This is not for uneducated, drug users, or abusive alcoholics; this is for people that have been dealt a hand of cards that they cannot trade. We just have to keep living.”
Barbara currently lives in her own apartment and volunteers a minimum of five days a week at the Salvation Army. “Monday through Sunday, I am here. If they need me, I will be here. I may be disabled, but I can help.”
Barbara wants donors to know that their generosity is greatly appreciated. “A big thank you for everything you do and the happiness you inspire. Please know what either end of this cycle is beautiful. Giving and receiving food is a loving place.”
