Cindy’s Story
August 2023
Nourish Dreams. Feed Futures.
Trying to better their lives through education, too many college students see their futures jeopardized because they struggle with hunger. Across the nation, 1 in 5 college students care for a child, many of them single parents. For these student parents the balance between tuition, classes, parenting, and working can be challenging, and at times overwhelming.
Cindy is a single mother of two children, ages five and eight, a full-time college student at Palo Alto College, and caretaker of her elderly mother. Growing up, Cindy did not have a strong support system. “I remember coming home from school with no electricity or water in our apartment. I grew up fast. Children shouldn’t have to grow up with that stress,” she said. Her stress did not end there. After experiencing serious complications when her youngest was born, she watched the nurses care for her premature newborn as well as herself. “I promised myself right then and there that I wanted more out of my life for me and my children. I wanted to help exactly like I was helped. I wanted to become a nurse.” These hardships propelled her ambitions toward stability, security, and self-sufficiency.
Though the road to pursuing her degree has been difficult, she has been strengthened by having the Food Bank’s supportive resources on-campus, via a partnership with the college’s Advocacy Center. “The Food Bank provided me food, access to pantries, and help applying for federal benefits. When I think about my future now, it’s positive and possible.”
