Dawn’s Story
Keeping My Grandson Fed
Times are tough for Dawn. When we first saw her in line at our food bank in Surprise, she was quiet and seemed embarrassed. As we chatted, she opened up and shared her story with us.
Dawn has had multiple heart surgeries and had to stop working for health reasons. She and her disabled husband live with their daugher and her family, who are also struggling. Dawn’s daughter earns a small income working part-time at a doctors office. Her son-in-law is the only one in the family who works 40 hours a week, making their household income far from enough to keep everyone fed.
Through her story, she became emotional and wept, especially when thinking about her grandson. He is actually the reason she started coming to St. Mary’s. “He’s growing and needs healthy food,” she said. “I love to make home-cooked meals like chicken and dumplings and Hamburger Helper for him. I ALWAYS use all the vegetables. They are so expensive to get, especially with the cost of food rising.”
We talked to Dawn for about 20 minutes, so while we can’t say that we “know” her – we know that she is so grateful for the food provided by you, our donors and friends. She ended by saying, “I don’t know what I would do [without St. Mary’s]. Probably pan-handling so I could feed my family. This means so much to me,” she said. “It helps a lot and I want to thank the donors for that.”
