Stories for Poverty

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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While the federal government has reopened, the country’s longest government shutdown continues to impact Delawareans, including the 136,000 individuals who utilize the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program to purchase food. Because February SNAP benefits were issued early, this could result in some households having as much as a two-month gap between benefits according to the issuance…

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As a single mother of two sons, Brittany knows the challenges of food insecurity. The Milford resident is disabled due to mental health issues, and relies on Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP, formerly known as food stamps) to feed herself and the two boys, ages 10 and 7. Because the $290 in benefits just don’t…

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