Throughout the holiday season, we’ll feature families supported and nourished by your gifts. A special thank you goes to Linda who agreed to share her personal story with us. If you would like to help her family and families like hers, please consider making a financial gift online.

Linda’s contributions to her community spans several decades – as wife, mother, nurse, teacher and several other careers. Now, retired, she lives on a monthly social security check of only $700 while caring for her three grandchildren ages 4, 7 and 9. When the children’s mother passed away, she made the tough decision of caring for them instead of having them go through the overburdened foster care system.

We met Linda at a Fresh Food for Families distribution at the Dove Springs Recreational Center where she can pick up a monthly supply of fresh fruits and vegetables, and bakery products.

Linda says things aren’t easy right now with her limited income, no car, and three young children to feed. She hasn’t had a car in 20 years, and just can’t afford one. “I’ve got three mouths to feed!”

Thankfully, she’s able to make her grocery bill stretch because she’s a good cook and because of the Food Bank. Access to CAFB programs like Fresh Food for Families do more than just nourish the hungry, they help families stay together.

“There is destruction in people’s lives without food. So many people are one step away from homelessness,” she says. “This food is a bedrock beneath all of us. It all starts right here.”

She says without the help of places like this, she wouldn’t be able to keep her grandchildren – they would have to live in foster care. There are no other family members who are in a situation where they could care for them. She didn’t want to share much more information about the children in order to protect their privacy.

“God bless you,” says Linda. “Thank you!”

Your gifts make it possible for caring, capable family members like Linda provide children in need with the security, stability and love of a permanent family. Please consider sharing this article and making an online gift today.

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