Stories for Poverty

The faces of rural poverty can be hidden, particularly in coastal Sussex County where new housing communities overshadow older mobile home parks. Yet these isolated poor neighborhoods provide shelter for the state’s most vulnerable people: senior citizens and children. For example: Carol and her grandson. Carol is a 79-year-old grandmother raising her 8-year-old grandson. They…

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Education, training, and connection offer participants hope for a brighter future We know that many of the neighbors we serve go to work every day, yet they aren’t earning enough to house and feed their families. Many of them — due to lack of technology, training, education, or skills – may feel stuck, with little…

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Even on a beautiful early autumn morning, one where the slight hints of red, orange, and yellow brightened foliage against a cloudless blue sky, Lynnet struggled to hold back the sobs punctuating her conversation.  Despite the glorious weather, she felt nearly hopeless, expressing a sense of overwhelming frustration in the daily search for lifelines and…

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On a daily basis, our neighbor, Deborah, copes with ongoing challenges that most of us would consider more than daunting. At age 55, she’s disabled, has no means of transportation, and for a while, a motel room was her home. Deborah relies on the Food Bank of Delaware for food, and she is especially appreciative…

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Like many of our neighbors who need assistance from the Food Bank of Delaware, Mary – not her real name — struggles with a complex bundle of problems on a daily basis. And these issues – couple with lack of resources and support — have haunted her most of her life, only the faces or…

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Retirement doesn’t always equate with rest, relaxation, and little responsibility. Lois, a Long Neck- area resident, retired from a career as a patient care tech at Beebe Medical Center. Now 66 years old, she has had full-time custody of three grandchildren for the past 15 months. They are ages 3, 6, and 9, so her…

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At the Food Bank, we call the tightly stocked plastic bag “Backpacks” because this bag of weekend meals fits discreetly inside a student’s backpack. Each bag contains shelf-stable, nutritionally balanced food for children to take home on weekends and school vacations when other resources may not be available: cereal, juice, a variety of microwavable entrees,…

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Wanda, a disabled senior, was happy to learn about the Food Bank’s Healthy Pantry program now available at the Food Bank of Delaware’s Milford site. This Lincoln resident, who is disabled, is dealing with a cut in her SNAP (formerly known as food stamps) benefits. The Healthy Pantry program provides emergency food – not a…

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The Food Bank of Delaware relies on 536 community partners statewide to help meet the needs of food-insecure Delawareans. According to Feeding America’s 2019 Map the Meal Gap study, our state’s food insecurity rate is 12.2 percent, slightly higher than the 12 percent rate last year. One of our newest partners, Community Resource Center in…

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For nearly three years, Beebe Medical Center and the Food Bank of Delaware have partnered to ensure that patients released from the hospital – including the emergency room – have adequate nourishing food. This Food Prescription Program, administered by Beebe’s Catherine Murphy, BSN, RN (pictured on the right), is part of the healthcare facility’s Community…

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