Thank you to guest blogger Rhonda Richmond, EdD who shared her story about growing up in poverty. We were moved by what she shared and hope you will be too.
My grandmother raised me in Denver, CO. She was a maid; a foster mother and she raised most of my siblings and cousins. It was not uncommon for there to be anywhere from 13 to 18 people (mostly children) in our home at one time. We often received food baskets, used Commodities and got food from the food bank. I cannot express to you how thankful I am that groups like you are around to fill the gap.
I also get defensive about the need for people to have food. I remember one year, I was in college and a gentleman began telling the class how hunger in America was a choice. He said that people, who are poor, choose to be poor and for that reason, we should stop giving them stuff to make them want a hand out. I remember how bitter those statements made me on the inside. Then I realized that he had never experienced poverty or hunger in his entire life. He never knew what it means not to have the basic things one needs to survive from day to day. Of course he could call it a choice, he had never felt the whip of the violence that poverty is.
My grandmother (single with only a 4th grade education – a former cotton picker) had known poverty her entire life. She raised us not to think of the things we needed to survive as a handout and she told us not to be too proud to ask for help.
By contributing to FBR, people are saving lives.
Rhonda Richmond, EdD
Education: Teaching and Learning
Higher and Postsecondary Education
We agree with Dr, Richmond. Food is a basic need. No one should go hungry. Thank you for reading our blog, advocating for the hungry and for helping us feed hope!
