Barbara has lived in the Conejo Valley for 30 years. She was a wife, mother, grandmother and a retired medical assistant. She worked for most of her life until her husband passed away and her rheumatoid arthritis became so debilitating, leaving her to face difficult financial challenges alone.
To ease the burden of winter utility bills and constant medical prescriptions, Barbara relies on Manna and its pantry to supply the food she so desperately needs. Barbara confides that while Manna’s pantry helps her with groceries she fears that many other seniors are suffering in silence, too embarrassed to ask for help. “We grew up in a time where you did for yourself; you didn’t ask for help, it was considered a weakness”. “Coming here is hard, emotionally, but I have to eat, I have no choice. I feel better, though. The people are nice and friendly, always a smile when I come in and there’s always a lot of food to choose from, lots of fruits and vegetables. It’s hard, but it’s nice, too”.
Barbara is just one of the thousands of seniors from around the Conejo Valley who struggle to put food on the table; one of the hundreds that Manna sees each month. 1 in 4 seniors nationwide struggle to get enough to eat, they are the fastest growing population to visit a food pantry and the problem will only get worse as a record number of Baby Boomers enter retirement.
Our seniors shouldn’t have to decide whether to “heat or eat”. When you support
Manna, you not only help put food on the table of a senior, but you also help take a challenging decision off the plate of people like Barbara, making it possible for them “heat & eat”.
