Too many seniors in Oklahoma live on a fixed income and have trouble affording the nutritious food they need. In fact, Oklahoma currently ranks 12th in the nation for food insecurity among older adults. Tonja is one of those older adults.
Tonja worked 30 years as a waitress, as well as many other jobs, and raised her two children by herself. She often visited a food pantry to keep her children fed. Today, Tonja is retired but continues to rely on food assistance from the TrueSky New Bethel Food Pantry in Oklahoma City.
“The way food prices are today, I can’t afford NOT to come here,” she says. She also picks up extra food for her eight grandchildren between the ages of 3 and 21.
“I love all my babies,” she says. “They love the snacks I bring them from the food pantry, and they also enjoy what I cook for them. That’s how we’re able to spend time together, through eating.”
Tonja is deeply grateful for the Regional Food Bank and donors like you. “They help people who are homeless and people who can’t afford to eat. It’s a beautiful thing. And it helps me in so many ways. From the bottom of my heart, thank you. Without you guys, I don’t know what I’d do.”
Thank you for your support and for ensuring that seniors in Oklahoma have access to nutritious foods.
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