Food Bank’s delivery service helps grandmother survive

October 28, 2021

Like many of our neighbors who receive nutritional support from the Food Bank of Delaware, Tonya, who lives in the city of Wilmington, fields multiple challenges daily. She has no personal transportation; if she can’t get the bus or the bus doesn’t travel where she needs to go, she has to pay a driver. Some days, she finds walking difficult; some days not.

Meanwhile, she relies on the bus to get to her part-time job in the Concord Mall. Due to a medical condition, Tonya’s concerned whether she will be able to continue at this job. She has a doctor’s appointment coming up where she hopes to get more information.

Prior to the pandemic, Tonya, age 59, was working, and her 15-year-old granddaughter, who’s been in her custody, since she was six weeks old attended school. When COVID-19 forced the lockdown, Tonya lost her job and stayed home with her granddaughter. They were able to live on Tonya’s unemployment. “Now that has stopped,” she said.

Fortunately, Tonya saw a report about the Food Bank on the morning news about a month ago, and that’s when she made a phone call to check on what services were available for her. Now, she receives a box of food delivered to her door each week. “It’s an excellent service, a great program,” she reports, but she worries that someone might take her box. “In my neighborhood, sometimes I get it, and sometimes I don’t. Everybody needs something these days,” Tonya said.

To learn more about services provided by the Food Bank of Delaware, please click here.