Over the last two years, Marian has turned to the Food Bank for support. As a person wtih diabetes living on a fixed income, she has to keep up with the hefty cost of insulin and maintaining a healthy diet to support her health. “If you start trying to figure out what the dieticians tell you that you should get and you go to the store, it takes all your money, seriously,” Marian explains. “So, with this I’ve been able to deal with it really good.”
Marian has been recovering from a knee surgery she had back in January. Thanks to the support she gets from the Food Bank, she’s able to save in order to take short trips to the beach in Port Aransas which help her recovery. “Just these past couple of days, I was at the beach to walk and to get exercise instead of my regular therapy,” Marian shares. “I’ve had a lot of health issues, but I thank God because I’ve overcome them in a lot of different ways.”
While Marian takes great care to follow the diet that her doctors recommend for her diabetes, she is grateful to find a lot of healthy options when she goes to her local mobile pantry distribution. “I appreciate when they give fresh vegetables,” she says. “A lot of these items are salt free.” Since her husband passed, Marian lives alone and mostly cooks meals for herself, but she makes sure to help others whenever she can. Her brother, 83 and a veteran, is no longer able to drive, so she makes sure to pick up food for him as well whenever she visits the mobile pantry. “Sometimes, if I have enough for myself, I’ll still pick up because I know there’s some elderly people in my area that can’t come,” Marian shares. “I take it to them or anybody else that needs it. It gives me purpose.”
In addition to sharing food with her neighbors and her brother, Marian is sure to tell her four sons about the resources the Central Texas Food Bank offers. “When they were growing up, I wish that I had known that these services were available because they would have been so helpful,” Marian says. “I tell them now that they have children of their own, when their jobs have failed or they’re struggling, I tell them to go…and they do.”
If you want to help support neighbors like Marian, head to our donate
