“My biggest priority is staying well. When you’re 62, and money is tight, you just hope you can stay well enough to get by another day,” says Jean, a client of a mobile pantry served by the Community Harvest Food Bank in Fort Wayne, Indiana.
Financial duress during an economic crisis isn’t new to this retired woman. She and her husband found a way to pull through the recession of 1983, taking with them lessons of wisdom to survive any new crisis. But, as two relatively healthy individuals back then, they could never have dreamed of the situation they would face in the new millennium.
“I used to be a giver back then,” states Jean of the donations she gave such places like her local food bank and pantry. Now she comes to the mobile pantry at her local church for the fresh fruits and vegetables she and her husband can’t afford. It’s an unexpected way of living for this Hoosier.
At 76, her husband works making $33,000. His salary is barely enough to pay all their bills and disqualifies the couple for many forms of government assistance. Jean’s body has suffered through three car accidents and a series of ailments, forcing her into permanent retirement. Although she now endures incredible pain from a hernia, neither she nor her husband have the money for a surgery to fix the problem.
She tries to remain optimistic, meticulously watching her expenses with each passing day. “I’m just patiently waiting,” she says of the state-sponsored medical care she hopes that she and her husband can one day afford.