Being Hungry in 2020

My mother was the next to youngest child of Polish immigrants. In 1924 when she was 4, her young father died, leaving her mother to support the family, children ranging in age from 14 to 1.5.  Speaking only Polish, my grandmother was functionally illiterate in English and she had no skills, other than cleaning, cooking, and growing a garden and chickens.  When the children were young and ate less, she was more or less able to keep her family fed with her industry, but as they grew, it became more and more difficult, especially in the winter when the garden produce was not available.

Finally my grandmother was able to obtain a job in the kitchen of the YMCA a few blocks from her home. At that time, with far fewer restaurants, many single men ate their meals at the Y, and some even lived there. Meal prices were cheap; portions were large.

So as my grandmother scraped leftovers from their plates when they came back to the kitchen to be washed, she saved pieces of meat; she saved servings of unpopular vegetables.  She took these home and fed the youngest children with these scraps. Partially eaten food off a stranger's plate nourished my mother as a child. My grandmother herself went hungry in her efforts to feed her family. 

My father's story is not identical to my mother's, but he likewise was affected by extreme poverty.  He was the oldest of 14 children, and he was forced to quit school in 1932 at age 14, in 8th grade, so he could get a job to help feed his younger sisters. Until he left home at age 21, he worked in an iron yard, at first earning $.25/day for twelve hours' work.  But so his sisters could have something to eat, my dad toiled, carrying iron as a teen.

No child in this country should be hungry the way my parents and their families were. No adult in this country should sacrifice their own food so that their children can eat. No senior in this country should wake up wondering if they will be able to eat that day.

My husband and I know  that we have been blessed with never knowing hunger, but that today so many people, due to the impact of the pandemic, are not nearly as fortunate.  Therefore, when we recently got our Economic Impact Funding from the federal government, we knew we wanted to support food banks in their efforts in our community.  Thus, our donation to the Central Pennsylvania Food Bank.  We admire your commitment to Pennsylvania residents. We hope for better times when the need you are meeting can be reduced.