Josh is a 51-year-old who lives in Barre, Vermont. He and his wife of 20 years recently divorced, and it has been difficult to manage his Parkinson’s disease and make ends meet.
After a recent divorce from his wife of 20 years, Josh found himself facing challenges keeping healthy food on the table.
Josh worked for a landscaping company for 24 years until he was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease. Unable to work, he is trying to make ends meet while relying on his disability and 3SquaresVT (also known as SNAP or food stamps) benefits.
Josh says, “I’m not a big spender. I don’t go out. I don’t spend money that I know I don’t have—never have, never did, never will. I try to make the 3SquaresVT benefits last, but it isn’t easy. I try to cook on a budget and eat the same thing three times a week.” But despite keeping his spending low, he doesn’t have enough money to live on, and Josh often runs out of food before the end of the month.
It’s harder without his wife, and he’s learning how to make things work without her. “I’m just trying to learn how to do this,” he says. “And today, I just need a little bit of food. Anything would help.”
So Josh called the Vermont Foodbank to see how he could get some extra food to make things work. “I’ve never done this before,” he said. “But I didn’t know where to turn. I have butter and condiments at my house, but nothing to put them on. And I just need something to get me through.”
We were able to provide him with a list of the food shelves and meal sites in his community and discuss different services available that might help. Josh was relieved to hear that there are places he can go, right in his community.
“You guys are amazing,” Josh said. “I never knew that there were programs like these to help people like me and people as kind as you to talk to. I felt so alone, but now I know that help is here.”
Photo substituted to protect privacy.
Summer in Vermont brings a bounty of local food. Here are five ways to stretch your food budget and eat local—get seeds and seedlings for your garden, get discounts at your local co-op, find free coupons at farmers markets, find free coupons at farm stands, and get a discount on your CSA farm share.
Anti-hunger advocates including a dozen staff from Vermont Foodbank, Hunger Free Vermont and NOFA-VT joined 900 anti-hunger advocates at the Food Research and Action Center’s National Anti-Hunger Policy Conference and Capitol Hill Day on May 6-8.
"3SquaresVT is the difference between us having to decide if we’re going to be able to afford to pay our bills or put food in the cupboard." [...]
