So, Helen, when we're
talking, you can try to pretend the
mic's not there. Okay.
Should I look at you?
Yes, so you said you've been a
volunteer here for five years.
Yes
Oh, I feel it's a good way to
give back to the community.
I've been very fortunate and
blessed, and I've never
had to deal with hunger, but I know
a lot of people do.
And it's means of
donating back outside of monetary
donations to give time to
help others.
So in the five years that
you've been volunteering,
does this time right now stand out
for you? Yes.
Yes, definitely, definitely.
The lines are longer, the
number of new registrants is
escalating pretty quickly.
And just from talking to people,
I mean we can definitely hear that
the need is much greater now than it
has been in the past.
There's always been need among
certain families and other families,
but it seems to be much more
broad, a broad swath
right now of people who appear in
need.
Because that last one
was really underneath.
Okay.
Okay, so what
the question was, was in
the five years that you've been
doing this, does this
period of time right now stand out
as one of the particular events?
Yes, I would definitely say
the demand is much greater now than
it has been in previous
years.
We all can blame the
snap cuts or other things,
but even putting
that aside, it seems like there's
a greater need, more people
living on the edge who
need the services of the
community to help them get by.
How hard is that for you to see
as someone that you just, you
described yourself as fortunate?
Yeah, it's difficult and
you always feel like you can do
more, but unfortunately
I probably need
to be here more too, but yeah,
it is difficult to see and to
see the struggles of other people.
I typically work
in the registration so I see
people as they come through in their
cars and you like to
chat a little bit and make a little
connection with the people
who are coming through and try to be
a little empathetic with them.
It's a difficult time for a lot of
people, yes.
When you're making a connection
with folks who are coming in to
register,
what are they saying to you about
why they have their needs?
I mean obviously at this time people
are concerned about
the cuts in their benefits that
they were previously receiving.
That's obviously at the top of their
list right now, but even
two months ago, three months ago
it's just,
you hear a lot of talk about
inflation, you know, things are
just so expensive at the grocery
store, you just can't get it, you
can't do it, and you just cant
balance taking care of the
kids and buying them coats and
also getting them food at the same
time.
So it's hard to see
and hard to hear.
Are there a lot of first-time
kind of...