Stories of Hope and Courage

1 in 5 Central Floridians are struggling with the reality of hunger and food insecurity. Here are some of their stories. Do you have a story to tell? Click here to share your story. 

 

Homeless and Hungry Twelve years ago, Santos arrived in Central Florida from Puerto Rico. He had heard of a job opportunity and decided to pursue it. It never materialized. He quickly learned that being alone without resources in an unfamiliar city was not a comfortable situation to be in. Once his limited funds ran out he became homeless and spent a year and a half living on the streets of Orlando.

A big chicken in the pot Paul is a civil engineer in his fifities who lost his job in 2009 due to a down-sizing event at his company. For years he had worked successfully on many major construction projects that are well known throughout Central Florida. As the breadwinner of his single-income family of four, Paul immediately began looking for a similar position with other firms. No luck.

Do-over At age 30, Randy looked a bit older than the typical college student at UCF. On the first day that he walked into the "Knights Helping Knights" emergency food pantry at UCF, Randy was able to receive a bag of food to get him through until he could afford to buy groceries for himself. Like many other college students today, every single penny he had available was tied up in other directions related to housing and school expenses, and nothing was left for food.

Budding Architect As a member of a low-income household, Rudy doesn't always have access to the healthy fruits and vegetables his family struggles to afford. Rudy is one of at least 100,000 low-income children in Central Florida that is at a high risk of being hungry on any given day. Fortunately, he participates in Second Harvest Food Bank's "Kids Cafe" program.

How do you measure success? Michael is a soft-spoken 63-year old homeless veteran who lives in Brevard County. For the past six years, he has volunteered at one of the local nonprofit organizations that receives food from Second Harvest Food Bank. Throughout this time, Michael has lived only on the assistance of the organization and on tips he received from helping people unload donations of household items and food. Not long ago, the organization decided to put him on their payroll.

'Trying' is the best we can do Suzi is a nutrition educator in Brevard County. As part of her job, she visits public schools to teach kids about how important it is to eat the right foods every day. One evening, as she was filling up her car with gasoline, Suzi was approached by a woman she had never met before. The woman pointed to a youngster in a nearby vehicle, and said "My daughter just pointed you out as the woman who came to teach her class at school today, is that right?" Suzi replied that it was. "My daughter also said that to be healthy, she needed to fill up half her plate with fruits and vegetables, is that right too?" said the woman.

Not the Brady Bunch Christina is a native of Maine, and a 40-year old mother of three children. After working for years as an LPN nurse in her hometown, Christina and her family packed up, left their apartment, and moved to Orlando. Her husband had gotten a new job in our area as the driver of an 18-wheeler, and she had heard about lots of opportunity in healthcare jobs in Florida.

Eating Better is Expensive Sandra is a single mother of two who works as a shift manager at a local fast food chain. Earlier this year, Sandra was at work when she felt a strange, racing heart sensation. She didn't want to go to the doctor. "That's for wimps," she thought. She didn't think of herself as the kind of person that called in sick to work for something like that. Still, the sensation eventually reached a point where she felt nearly ready to pass out one day.

You Need it More Than Me Once a month, teachers at an Orange County elementary school receive a delivery of small, shrink-wrapped packages. These packs include kid-friendly food items that are calorically-correct for an elementary-age student for two days. On Fridays, teachers move from room to room, slipping the precious weekend food packs into the backpacks of the students that they know are at the greatest risk of being hungry when school begins again on Monday.

Gina's Missing Tooth A volunteer named Annette spends her free time working at an East Orange County summer camp that hosts 40 young campers each day. Recently, she felt a tinge of joy when one of her campers ran up and told her "Gina's in the bathroom, and she just lost a tooth!" "These kids are growing up so fast," thought Annette with a smile. She hurried off to the girl's restroom to find 10-year old Gina standing in front of the mirror. When she saw tears instead of excitement on Gina's face, Annette's joy quickly turned to sadness.