Less than a month ago, Lewis was covering a COVID-19 food distribution in Illinois as a freelance journalist. Now, he’s attending one because he and his family need the food.
“I’m here for my wife and brother. Between the three of us, we lost a total of five jobs because of the virus. We never expected this to happen.”
Lewis and his wife were semi-retired, both working part-time jobs before the pandemic. But in the blink of an eye, that changed.
“We don’t have any income at all,” Lewis said. Recently, he attended a drive-thru food distribution. “It makes the little bit of money we do have coming in go a lot farther,” he said. “In the past, we were the ones donating to the food bank because we had good jobs, a good income. We were secure. Within a month, we were needing the food bank. It can happen to anybody.”
Lewis and his family aren’t alone in their situation. We’ve seen a dramatic rise in first-time food bank visitors since the pandemic hit. Job losses and cutbacks have put so many of our neighbors in a place they never could have expected to be in.
That’s what makes your support so critical as we continue to see record numbers of people turning to food banks for help. You make all the difference for people like Lewis. Thank you!
