In about two weeks while working at Ross Dress For Less, our car broke down. At first, everything seemed like hell. Going to run errands, getting groceries, going to work...all of it. Just pure hell.
Toughing it out, we walked everywhere on a daily basis. In combination of a three person household with a child, we each walked at least seven to ten miles per day. In total, that is far more than any average US citizen would walk in a given week if they were even lucky. But to add that on every single day for six months straight?
That would give the average US citizen a heart attack just from the thought, let alone having to actually do it.
There was this one instance where David, Zak (in a stroller, one mile is enough torture for a kid to walk) and I ended up walking all over town (approximately seven miles, not including the rest of what we had to walk later on that evening) to get food at food banks.
Just for the record, before anyone wants to judge us on our circumstance, we live in a home that has a total of $1500 in bills (which is the state average for those with two-individual income and a child on the minimum with no cable, no phone and no luxuries). At the time, Wilson and I did not have a job and was solely supported by David's income. So it was a major blessing for Wilson and I to have found a job when we did, or we really would have been on the streets and that just wasn't going to happen. What we did without a car and three jobs, was to support us in every way possible without starving ourselves to death (it would have been nice to receive Food Stamps, but we were "over-income").
My main goal in 2012 was to support my family and to get them back on their feet. That meant to have a job long enough to get everyone on their feet and to get Food Stamps so we could get bus passes while we waited on getting the car fixed. Adding Andre to the addition of our already three individual home with a kid, was just the icing on the cake. It helped me with being able to stay-at-home to watch my son and our animals, to manage the home, to start the jobs I originally wanted to do while working at Ross and to have more time for things that truly meant something to me, while he worked alongside Wilson and David at an operational business.
Toughing it out, we walked everywhere on a daily basis. In combination of a three person household with a child, we each walked at least seven to ten miles per day. In total, that is far more than any average US citizen would walk in a given week if they were even lucky. But to add that on every single day for six months straight?
That would give the average US citizen a heart attack just from the thought, let alone having to actually do it.
There was this one instance where David, Zak (in a stroller, one mile is enough torture for a kid to walk) and I ended up walking all over town (approximately seven miles, not including the rest of what we had to walk later on that evening) to get food at food banks.
Just for the record, before anyone wants to judge us on our circumstance, we live in a home that has a total of $1500 in bills (which is the state average for those with two-individual income and a child on the minimum with no cable, no phone and no luxuries). At the time, Wilson and I did not have a job and was solely supported by David's income. So it was a major blessing for Wilson and I to have found a job when we did, or we really would have been on the streets and that just wasn't going to happen. What we did without a car and three jobs, was to support us in every way possible without starving ourselves to death (it would have been nice to receive Food Stamps, but we were "over-income").
My main goal in 2012 was to support my family and to get them back on their feet. That meant to have a job long enough to get everyone on their feet and to get Food Stamps so we could get bus passes while we waited on getting the car fixed. Adding Andre to the addition of our already three individual home with a kid, was just the icing on the cake. It helped me with being able to stay-at-home to watch my son and our animals, to manage the home, to start the jobs I originally wanted to do while working at Ross and to have more time for things that truly meant something to me, while he worked alongside Wilson and David at an operational business.
But back to the original story of walking seven miles to Food Banks across the entire town of Grand Junction. We ended up leaving at 10 and wound up arriving back home at 3 in the afternoon. Five hours people, five!? Add that onto the 20 pounds of food we each had to carry.
You would think that we would have slowed down just to smell the roses. Wrong!
David and I ended up organizing all the food we got into our refridgerator and pantry (which took at least some 30 odd minutes) before deciding on taking a break. This break so-called turned into watching a documentary named Dive! Living Off America's Waste.
"Inspired by a curiosity about our country's careless habit of sending food straight to landfills, the multi award-winning documentary DIVE! follows filmmaker Jeremy Seifert and friends as they dumpster dive in the back alleys and gated garbage receptacles of Los Angeles' supermarkets. In the process, they salvage thousands of dollars worth of good, edible food - resulting in an inspiring documentary that is equal parts entertainment, guerilla journalism and call to action."
You would think that since we live in an economy with millions of families who starve on a daily basis, the economy would do something about it. Well you my friend, are most definitely wrong. At least for some people out there, they wind up like Jeremy Seifert who have been given the wrong hand in life and turn it into something positive. Something ful-filling and what can seem like the world to those who really need it. To coordinate and transport food to homeless shelters, food banks, food pantries and soup kitchens, seven days a week.
To me, this man is truly inspiring. Inspiring enough that I will dwelve into the realms I would have never wanted to go in because of the waste involved, just to put more food on the table for my family and to coordinate a plan in order to reduce the amount of food just thrown out...
You would think that we would have slowed down just to smell the roses. Wrong!
David and I ended up organizing all the food we got into our refridgerator and pantry (which took at least some 30 odd minutes) before deciding on taking a break. This break so-called turned into watching a documentary named Dive! Living Off America's Waste.
"Inspired by a curiosity about our country's careless habit of sending food straight to landfills, the multi award-winning documentary DIVE! follows filmmaker Jeremy Seifert and friends as they dumpster dive in the back alleys and gated garbage receptacles of Los Angeles' supermarkets. In the process, they salvage thousands of dollars worth of good, edible food - resulting in an inspiring documentary that is equal parts entertainment, guerilla journalism and call to action."
You would think that since we live in an economy with millions of families who starve on a daily basis, the economy would do something about it. Well you my friend, are most definitely wrong. At least for some people out there, they wind up like Jeremy Seifert who have been given the wrong hand in life and turn it into something positive. Something ful-filling and what can seem like the world to those who really need it. To coordinate and transport food to homeless shelters, food banks, food pantries and soup kitchens, seven days a week.
To me, this man is truly inspiring. Inspiring enough that I will dwelve into the realms I would have never wanted to go in because of the waste involved, just to put more food on the table for my family and to coordinate a plan in order to reduce the amount of food just thrown out...
...when it can clearly be given to those who truly need it. Our economy.
That is inspiring. I would never judge you either. I think a lot of us have had some bad times over the last few years. Sounds like you were being pretty awesome and not letting life totally kick you down. That is inspiring. :) Most people would have not walked to work everyday! It's sad all the food and just waste in general that humans throw away daily. :(
ReplyDeleteHey, we did what we had to do to make sure there was food on the table for our kids (1 dog, 2 cats and 1 child at the time - that blossomed into 2 additional rats while my one cat ended up disappearing). We are going to continue to dumpster dive and make savings in the store by shopping more wisely (freezer cooking, anyone?!), just so we can make the most of what we have. It REALLY made us fortunate to even had a car, so that definitely tells you something when we were really desperate. As a favor, share the post around to help food waste! :]
ReplyDeleteI loved the documentary Dive and very much enjoyed reading your story. We had a similar one where we were unemployed for two years. We had run out of unemployment checks and we were desperate for a call back. Finally we got one and my husband got a job - it was one of the best calls we ever got.
ReplyDeleteBack to dumpster diving though - We haven't tried dumpster diving for food, though I found that documentary very inspirational, but I do pull out a lot of stuff, fix it up, resell it or give it away so that it doesn't end up in landfills. It just depresses me to see perfectly fine stuff, sometimes just needing a bit of extra love, go in the trash.