For Renell Hawkins, life has gotten so difficult at times that she has denied herself food to ensure her six children have something to eat.
For about a year, she’s gone to the St. Charles Parish Department of Community Services’ Second Harvest food bank to get help and sometimes she’s asked for emergency food. But the St. Rose resident can’t go now, even though they need it, because she doesn’t have money for gas to go to Community Services for help.
“I don’t want to be the one who asks for a hand out,” said Hawkins, who sometimes hesitates to go to the center because she worries she’s taking food from others who might need it more.
She was a bakery manager at Winn-Dixie until she injured her shoulder, which ended in a Worker’s Compensation dispute. She went on to work at a day care, but had to leave when it was determined she could not lift more than 25 pounds and that was a job requirement. Hawkins is hoping she can do substitute teacher work.
In the meantime, Hawkins needs help and she praised what Community Services has done for her and her children.
“Last year for Thanksgiving, I couldn’t make it there, but they brought a Thanksgiving basket of food for the children,” she said. “What they have they give. If I called them and told I don’t have any gas or food, they’d fix up a nice box for us.”
Hawkins represents a growing number of people who not only need help, but need it on an emergency basis.
Community Services Director Joan Diaz said they served 344 families at their food bank last year, a number that has grown to 410 applications for food assistance so far this year. Of the latest total, 209 of them are asking for food support for the first time.
“Food insecurity continues to be a concern for this community,” Diaz said. “In an effort to work together to respond to the growing need, the Department of Community Services works in partnership with all of the other food banks in the parish to coordinate services through shared resources and referring clients to the food bank closest to their home in order to insure easy access.”
Community Services serves as a “safety net for struggling families” in the parish. As a Community Action Agency, the department works to assist the “poor and vulnerable” populations, provide self-development opportunities, spearhead housing improvements and provide educational and social services support.
Emergency assistance is one-time help available in food, medicine, clothing, temporary shelter and rent or mortgage.
Of the 970 families served last year, Diaz said 46 percent of these people represent single-parent households. Some 56 percent of them came from the East Bank, particularly St. Rose and Destrehan-New Sarpy, and 44 percent from the West Bank mostly in Luling-Boutte area.
An increasing number of parish residents are struggling economically.
According to Debra Rieder, executive director of Assistance For Single Parents in Norco, help is growing demand for her organization’s services.
“Times are tough, especially for the single parents in our community,” Rieder said. “We often receive telephone calls requesting assistance with finances, legal direction, mentoring, tutoring, childcare, and food assistance just to name a few.”
But others living on an economic edge are struggling, too.
Tommy Smith of Destrehan, who is disabled with spinal cord damage, recently started going to the food bank.
When it was learned Smith was living in his deceased mother’s mobile home, his Food Stamps were reduced to $16 a month because he wasn’t paying rent and he was told that’s considered income. He receives $700 a month in disability payments. When the Food Stamps were cut, he said cuts had to be made.
“I wasn’t eating too much,” Smith said. “I’ve got my medications and to get them I had to let some of my bills go like my groceries and stuff.”
When a friend from church told him about the food bank, he went there and, to him, Second Harvest is a wonderful thing.
Shantrese Ford of Boutte agreed.
“We just needed the help,” Ford said of both her and her husband looking for work. “Food is expensive.”
Ford praised the food they’ve received from the food bank.
“Some food banks give you things that are beans that you don’t eat, but with Community Services what I notice is with food I got from them it wasn’t food that was expired or things that we didn’t like,” she said. “It includes some perishable items like chicken that we can put in our freeze and cans of fruit, as well as fresh fruit. It makes it worth your while that can you get a box of food that can carry you through and food that you can actually use.”
Like Hawkins, Ford said their situation has gone up and down, but she feels they are struggling more with a decrease in Food Stamps and higher food costs. She’s trying to find a job that will let her be with her children and that’s proven difficult.
“If you make a penny, they take $50,” Ford said. “It’s like you can’t get on your feet. They are so ready to take you off or take you down. How do you maintain or survive?”
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