Foodbank of Southeastern Virginia

Peggy Sue Brown used to donate to local nonprofits. Then doctors discovered a tumor on her spine, and the Virginia Beach resident’s life tumbled downward. Immense pain made it impossible to continue working as a special education assistant at a Norfolk school. Before being approved for disability payments, Brown and her son lived on $98 a month. She lost her home and her car and moved eight different times in four years.

To keep from starving she relied on the food pantry at St. Mark’s Catholic Church in Virginia Beach for everything from meat and noodles to holiday turkeys. St. Mark’s is one of 325 area organizations that receive food from the Foodbank of Southeastern Virginia and to give to people in need.

Most weeks “all we ate was from the Foodbank,” says Brown, 51. On a recent pickup day at St. Mark’s the only food left at home was rice, noodles and a few canned vegetables. That day Brown brought home four bags of food, including pork, spaghetti sauce and pasta, and a cherry pie.

Each month about 1 million pounds of food helps hungry people in Hampton Roads. Many have to “choose between medicine and food. Families can’t make ends meet,” says Joanne Batson, chief executive officer at the Foodbank. “We are the safety net for them.”

Today, Peggy Sue Brown is doing better. She receives disability payments and lives with her son in a mobile home. “The Foodbank kept us alive,” says Brown. “They literally saved us.”

Article courtesy of Hampton Roads Community Foundation.

To help others like Peggy Sue, designate your gift to CVC #5024.

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