You’ve probably read this article at CNN.com in which Patricia Guerrero relates her story of how she went from $70K to a food bank in a matter of months.
Daryl Brock, the executive director of Second Harvest Food Bank in California’s San Bernardino and Riverside counties, said they have seen some major changes. In the last 12 to 18 months, Brock said, the agencies he supplies have begun seeing more middle-class families coming to their doors.
“Our agencies have said there is an increasing number of people coming to them for help,” Brock told CNN by phone. “Their impression was that these were not people they normally would have seen before. They seemed to be better dressed. They seemed to have better cars and yet they seemed to be in crisis mode.”
As we start to hear more stories like this one from the downturn in the economy, we should keep in mind that a families in similar situations have an array of options in Central Texas that help them gain their financial footing–these options go beyond simply drawing unemployment and visiting the food bank.
- Take another look at our Theory of Change, where we outline key strategies that help individuals achieve financial stability.
- Take another look at our newly funded programs in the Financial Stability category.
- If you visit one of the sites of our new programs like Foundation Communities, or Capital IDEA and read some of their success stories, you’ll discover something very much the opposite of the CNN.com story is happening–something like, “From Food Bank to Financial Stability.”