Brian and Jason, four and two years old respectively, were very busy while their parents talked with a St. Francis House volunteer. The two small boys sat in the middle of the toy corner with a loaf of bread on the floor beside them. Not a word was spoken between them as they set about the serious task of filling their stomachs.
As the boys ate, their parents explained their predicament. Their dad’s disability check paid the rent and utilities while their mom’s part-time job paid for food and gas. Their mom had recently lost three weeks of work due to an unexpected surgery. Now that she was better, the food money was going toward gas so that she could get to work.
“We have always been able to take care of ourselves,” the mom said, “but this time, we just can’t seem to get over the hump.”
As they loaded groceries from St. Francis House’s emergency food bank into their car and tucked away the information about local food banks, the boys gave the volunteer a big hug. “Thank you for the good bread,” they said.