Age: 39
In today’s society, doctors and other medical professionals are often given impossible expectations to fill because people come to the doctor when they are in their greatest need. The struggle against death makes people desperate. Any hint of hesitance or confusion on the part of medical personnel has the potential to send a patient into a tailspin of horror and doubt. For a growing percentage of the population a different life and death struggle is playing itself out, but there is no way to cure this ailment quickly or easily.
Mary is one victim of this ailment. The day I met her, she had two kids in tow, both under the age of 10 and she was trying to shoulder a box filed with groceries. Mary, the two kids, and the box of groceries were all headed home to her 16 & 18 year olds when I asked her to sit down to talk to me. She considered it a moment and shifted the weight of the box to her other arm before agreeing; more because it would give her an opportunity to rest her arms than because she was interested in talking.
Mary doesn’t meet the stereotype that most people would associate with food pantry visitors. She is in her late 30’s and she works as a medical assistant in town. The job pays her fairly well, but with so many people in her house and with the increase in prices across retail sectors, Mary is finding it more difficult to make ends meat. She is falling into the same situation that many people around the country find themselves in as the dollar decreases in value and gas prices continue to rise. As the US economy continues to falter more men and women are becoming working poor, and need to rely on resources like the Rock River Valley Food Pantry who during July 2008 served 200 first time visitors.
Many of these first time visitors will be like Mary who heard about the pantry through her friends and plans on only using it this one time. But since the US economy has not been able to rally my guess is the pantry will probably see Mary again sooner than she expects. It is an interesting irony seeing someone who spends so much of her time helping people in their life and death struggles, needing help herself. When her kids begin to get really squirmy, and start asking when they are going to leave, Mary stands up and says that she has to leave. She picks up her box again and heads toward the door leaving me with a lot of questions about what will happen to her? What will happen to the pantry? And what will happen to all of us? How will we as a society be able to support each other when everyone seems to be suffering? What happens when this ailment called hunger reaches our doorstep without any type of cure in sight?
To learn more about the work of the Rock River Valley Food Pantry visit their website or call them at 
(815) 965-2466
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