If Joe, 63, makes one person laugh each day, he’s accomplished his mission. He’s a jolly guy, so jolly that around the holidays he dresses as Santa Claus to spread joy to children and their families. He’ll do anything to brighten someone's day.
Life hasn’t always been easy for Joe. When times get tough and he doesn’t know how he’ll feed his family, he visits the food pantry at the Foodbank’s Stark County Campus. This helps alleviate his stress and is one less thing he needs to worry about.
Joe has a large household to support. He used to work at H-P Products doing strenuous, manual labor, but he had to retire early. His wife works, but with a large family all living under one roof, her pay goes to utility bills or filling up her gas tank to get to and from work. Not much is left over for groceries.
“I have six people in the house; most of them are kids; my kids and my grandkids. I'm retired because of my [bad] knees. My wife is working, but all the bills keep going up. It makes buying food very hard,” he said.
No family should have to choose between having running water or the lights on and food. The pantry simplifies things for Joe and helps lessen his worries about his grandchildren not being able to get the nourishing food they need to grow and live healthy lives.
Joe is so grateful to everyone who ensures that he and his family have food on the table every single day. “I am really glad to get all of the help. Thank you. Thank you very much.”