Utilities Or Food:
In recent survery's held by America's Second Harvest, it was found that nearly 45% of the clients that received emergency food from either a foodbank, pantry or soup kitchen had to make the decision of buying food or paying the utilities bill for the month.
“I would pretty much just pay half of each– the electric bill, the phone bill. That would keep them on, but some months were harder than others. I was forced to make the choice between feeding my kids and being in the dark or having electricity. I chose to feed the kids.”
The average low income family spends one in five of the dollars or 19% of their income on energy cost alone. 20.3 % of the pantry programs associated with America's Second Harvest, also provide utility bill assistance.
"Growing up I watched my grandmother make something out of nothing, so I know how to do that, but I still can’t really buy them the things they want. We can’t afford it. They’re older and they eat more, so I have to be really careful to only buy what we need. But because of everything I’ve been through, I know how fortunate I really am."
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