Watch Mari’s Story

Mari is a single mother of three children: Jayden, Jose, and Jaelyssa. When the pandemic hit our community in March of 2020, stores everywhere sold out of essentials such as toilet paper and eggs. Like many struggling mothers, Mari was having a difficult time making ends meet and finding the bare necessities as she searched through the empty shelves of grocery stores. She heard about Food Bank distributions through the news and made her way to Trader’s Village. “I could see hundreds of cars ahead of me,” Mari stated, but she knew that day her family, along with hundreds of others, would have food in their fridge. Her family was given sustenance, as well as hope that they would be able to make it through the challenge of the pandemic with support from the Food Bank.

However, not long after the distribution, Mari and all of her children contracted COVID-19, not just once- but twice. The next few months were very challenging. “It was a long struggle to get back on the road to health for my family – only to get hit again. I found out about the client services team at the Food Bank. They helped me with re-applying for benefits like SNAP, WIC, CHIP, and even utility assistance. My family would not have won this battle without their help.”

With summer just around the corner, Mari, as well thousands of other families in our area, will face a new challenge as schools let out and children’s access to free meals decreases. The San Antonio Food Bank is gearing up to meet this challenge through our 25 Million Meals 4 Kids campaign which needs your support of funds, food, or volunteer time to help us provide free, nutritious meals to kids across the region this summer. No child should ever go hungry. Please send your biggest gift today to help those facing hunger this summer.