Drexel University

The Center for Hunger-Free Communities

Solutions Based on Science and the Human Experience

Pennsylvania

 

Tina-Marie is a 31-year-old mother of a daughter from central Pennsylvania. Keeping up with everyday life is often difficult for Tina-Marie and her family. She often must sacrifice her own health and appetite so that her daughter can have what she needs. Tina-Marie believes that Witnesses has been an important program for her to show others what people who are less fortunate must go through each day. 

This is my son Damian.  He’s three years old and he’s pretty much suffering with me, which I can’t stand.

My car needs tires. I don’t have money to put tires on it. There’s a lot of money I don’t have that needs to go into my car. It also needs a tune up, an oil change and a new bumper. My car is due for inspection by the end of this month. I don’t know what I’m going to do without my car because I bring my child to school in Scranton and I live in Peckville which is a twenty minute drive.

When I was a kid, my parents used to take me to Broad Street Market where they had the surplus lines where you could get the canned Spam, the cheese, the butter, rice, and all that stuff. And they still do that sometimes now. They leave stuff out or they give it to certain people that come in the market. They know that I’m always collecting stuff for my community food bank, so if they have leftovers someone will say “Can I put something in your car for you to take home that you can share?” So Broad Street Market means a lot to me.

We were waiting in line for Christmas dinner baskets. We were all raised up together in the same part of town, and we were waiting together. For as long as we stood in the cold, they were uplifted and spirits were high. These are some good, strong women that just need a break. They come to my house and they sit there and wait for me to drop words of encouragement and I just tell them, “You just have to hang on in there.”

She was tired after a long day at school and fell asleep in the car.

Children need to be protected in their environment. A lot of children come out and they don’t have supervision. But we live in a day and age where you have to keep your eyes on your children. I’d like to see my granddaughter grow up and be healthy so I’m going to keep that watchful eye on her. This is public housing. This is where we live. The hill comes straight down into our house. Public Housing is O.K., considering some people are still sleeping under trees. With winter being here, we’re grateful we have a roof over our head.

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