Within the past few weeks, I had found out that my aunt lost her job. She had worked at a flower shop that was suddenly taken over by the IRS, leaving all of its workers unexpectedly out of work. Although my aunt will be okay financially in supporting her family, it is an entirely different story for one of her closest friends that also go laid off. The woman is currently a resident of New Brunswick and lives in one of the smallest houses I have truly ever seen. She is a single mother trying to raise three children. Although her elderly mother is there andhelps watch over the children, her poor health often hinders her from helping out. Therefore, when this woman was laid off, she actually had no money to keep her family alive. Not only does this family sleep on bug infested mattresses scattered about the structurally con caving living room, but now they suddenly had no food. The woman called my aunt saying that she had nothing to feed her children, so my aunt packed up bags of groceries and drove right over to lend a helping hand. Along with my aunt, my mom gave her all of the necessary items for a full on turkey dinner because the holiday was obviously quickly approaching. With about a weeks worth of groceries, her family could breathe for two seconds and once again fill their belly’s. But what is in the future for them?
I think the scariest part of this whole situation is that this happened to someone so close and dear to my family. Not only am i an acquaintance to this woman, but I know her to be a kind hearted person and a loyal mother who would do anything to put her children first. There have been times when she has gone days without eating at home because all the food she gets goes immediately to her children. I want you all to think about your Thanksgiving Day dinner table. How many plates were left with scraps of food that could compile to feed a family of eight? I know I stood there on Thursday watching as my uncle threw slice after slice of turkey into the garbage when there are plenty of people out there that would give you anything they could offer just for a decent meal. Therefore, I am encouraging all of you, to think about how much food you wasted over this past holiday and to make an effort to make it up to yourself and all those people in need to donate to a soup kitchen. From the smallest of non-perishable items to entire turkeys, something will always make a difference. There is even one located in New Brunswick for any of you who leave around this area. With that town being located right next to mine and seeing how much some of its residents are suffer, I feel it is never too late to help.
