Unemployment is one of most insidious causes of hunger in America. The loss of income and the resulting strain pushes many people to the brink of hunger. It is a cause of food insecurity and can result from a number of issues. Pandemics, war, political struggle, or economic forces can cause unemployment on a mass level. Even without these events, unemployed people find themselves unable to guarantee they have a regular supply of nutritious food.
Operation Blessing partners like you know that unemployment can increase the need for hunger relief. That is why, with your support, Operation Blessing offers a number of programs to help people who, due to job loss or reduced income, lack food security. We do this in a number of ways including food distribution and microenterprise programs. Many of the food distributions are featured as articles and videos on our website and YouTube channel.
A Single Mother Who Became Unemployed Due To Her Health
While many lose their jobs involuntarily some have no choice but to leave them. Certain medical conditions can force people to stop working. During the COVID-19 pandemic a young mother named Danielle in Georgia had to contend with epilepsy and Grave’s disease. This forced her to leave work due to her increased risk if she contracted the coronavirus. As result she found herself without income. Additionally, she is a single parent. Now dealing with unemployment, she could not afford to pay for groceries.
You can help struggling mothers like Danielle.
Operation Blessing partners like you stepped into help supply Danielle with groceries to counter the difficult effects of unemployment. Through Destination Church, our distribution partner in Georgia, we are able to supply Danielle and her family with the groceries she needs.
From Two Jobs To Totally Unemployed
Joanne was no stranger to hard work. She had two jobs and was gainfully employed. That was before 2020 and the advent of the COVID-19 economic crisis. When the pandemic descended upon her home state of North Carolina she lost both of her jobs. Now her life shifted from having more than enough to filing for unemployment, searching for a job, and cutting back vigorously just to survive. What do you do when you want to work and circumstances have other plans?
And how can you help the hungry and unemployed?
The answer to the second question is to supply a network of food banks and food pantries. Friends and partners of OB like you offered food for families in trouble. For Joanne the support given through our distribution partner, Empowerment Temple, provided her the food and supplies she needed to survive.
Jobless For A Month
Another heartbreaking aspect of unemployment is people who are looking for work but cannot find it. In addition to complete frustration, the need to feed yourself and your family does not go on hold while you wait for a job to come open. This was the plight of many out of work people in Irving, Texas.
Your support makes a huge difference!
Scores of unemployed people found themselves coming to the Agape Connect Food Bank to get enough groceries to survive. Some had been unemployed for over a month, with bills piling up. Your support helps us supply food banks like Agape Connect with the food it needs to help people in this situation.
See more about this on this video
A Single Mother Who Had To Choose Between Caring For Her Children And Working
There is no limit to a mother’s love for her children. Aimee is single mother in Virginia with three school age children. Two of her three children have autism. As a caring parent she has no choice but to shuttle them to multiple doctor’s appointments so they get the care they need.
This puts a massive strain on their finances. She is not able to maintain steady employment since the needs of her childrens’ medical care force her to miss work. Through no fault of her own she is not able to work enough to make the income she needs.
As result she found herself inundated with bills. Aimee and her children found themselves facing food insecurity as they did not have adequate income to meet all their needs.
You can step in and make a difference!
Operation Blessing partners like you stepped into help supply Aimee with food and supplies to help balance the strain of her situation. Through Jonathan Cares, an Operation Blessing distribution partner, we provide Aimee and her family the groceries she needs.
Groceries Or Utilities: A Terrible Choice When You’ve Lost Your Income
It is a choice no mother, parent, grandparent, or caregiver should ever have to make. Do you pay the light bill or feed your family. Sadly, this happens all too often when you lose your employment. Such was the case with Cynthia.
Cynthia was a grandmother battling cancer. She lost most of her income when coronavirus lockdowns shut down her office. She could no longer pay her bills. Her new normal was deciding things like whether to buy groceries or pay for utilities, imagine choosing running water or eating?
But Your Support Helped Remedy This Wrong.
When you donated and partnered with Operation Blessing you helped extend a safety net to help unemployed women like Cynthia. Your support allowed us to procure food to supply local food pantries like Hill Country Daily Bread in Boerne, Texas. Hill Country Daily Bread makes sure an unemployed senior with cancer, like Cynthia, didn’t have to choose between things like food or electricity. Now, thanks to help from friends like you, she has a regular supply of groceries to help her through these tough times.
Weeks Without Work: The Plight Of A Father After Layoffs
Adrian is a young father and husband. He had a steady job as a woodworker in Costa Rica. This was until he was laid off due to the shutdowns mandated in response to COVID-19. Suddenly Adrian found himself unemployed.
Even with a job selling vegetables, he could not pay his bills or feed his family. He now found himself as one of the faceless millions without a job to cover expenses, in an economy that had come to a halt.
This was Adrian’s plight until your generosity turned things around.
Through the support of partners like you, we were able to help Adrian and his family. Your kindness helped supply us with the food to prepare nutritious food packages so his family would not go hungry.
Learn More About Unemployment And Hunger Issues
Our Hunger Relief page features a multitude of stories that show a human face of these kinds of struggles. They also are updated with new human interest stories regularly.
