Hi Ennie,

All three of us are on fixed incomes, and we recently lost a major source of income three months ago when my mother-in-law died. I did not ask for money when we were making money taking care of her unless she was in the hospital most of the pay period. When she was in the hospital, my husband and brother-in-law did not get paid. Now our major problem is my brother-in-law smokes, and he prefers cigarettes. Cigarettes are expensive. I went to a friend for help and she recommended a food bank. I appreciated that help because we were running low on food. We make bills a priority, and we are able to negotiate paying bills. The food bank was difficult because I saw so many desperate people who would not smile. I even saw lots of children, and I felt badly for families with children. Even though we did not get all the food we wanted from the food bank, it helped to tide us over until we got some money again. In addition to that, we got more food from the food bank without standing in line because another friend works there. We appreciated the extra food. However, I would be careful about giving food. Some people are on special diets. I had a friend who was poor and she focused on eating healthy food. She wanted other things like bread bags to pick up after her cat, so I gave her bread bags.