A few years ago, life was humming along just fine for Onalee and her family.
An Oklahoma State graduate with a BA in Spanish, she had a well-paying job as an insurance
agent. Between her income and her husband’s work as a roofer, their three children — ages 17, 10 and 9 — were well provided for.
But when Onalee’s employer closed the office and she lost her job, everything changed suddenly — and dramatically.
“I went from making really good money to having nothing,” she says. Worse, she’d lost her job in October, right when her husband’s income was about to drop due to the seasonal nature of his business.
“We struggled a lot,” Onalee says. “There were points where I would open the refrigerator and there wouldn’t be a lot in there.
“I experienced a lot of guilt. My kids are my world, and just thinking that I may not be able to put food on the table ... There were times I would go to bed at night and just cry myself to sleep because I didn’t know how I would pay for things.”
A friend invited Onalee to join her as a volunteer at Our Daily Bread Food & Resource Center, a partner of the Regional Food Bank.
Initially Onalee, who is bilingual, started volunteering to serve the center’s Spanish-speaking
clients. But when another volunteer asked Onalee if her family needed help, Onalee suddenly realized that yes, they certainly did!
“That was the first time it hit me,” says Onalee, who then became a client — as well as a volunteer — at Our Daily Bread. Shopping there for her family “felt like I was in a grocery store,” she says. “I got to choose the things my family would eat. I had dignity.”
Becky Taylor, former executive director at Our Daily Bread, says Onalee is hardly alone.
“The face of hunger is very different than what we may assume it is,” says Taylor. “You realize it could be you at any point. Onalee’s story is not unique. There are a lot like her.
“We serve a lot of guests who have an education, who have a degree, who have great jobs. And then, life happens, and they find themselves in a situation where they need help.”
Onalee is grateful for people like you who support the Regional Food Bank and, by extension, families like hers.
“There are families who just need help to help them get through a phase,” she says. “I’m so thankful for people who have given back.
“When you’ve lived through that, you see the impact that food has. It seems so minor, but it’s
so important.”
Your compassion and action mean the world to families like Onalee’s!
