Rural Poverty

It's been hot before in Tennessee but not like now. People across the state are taking extra precautions. Outdoor pets are being brought inside. The nightly news is telling everyone to check on the elderly. If you have breathing problems like asthma you are being told to stay inside. It's bad. Some folks have taken to going to the mall or movie theater to escape the heat.

People are suffering but the poor suffer the most. Our rural area is no exception. If you live in the city and have $2.00 you may be able to walk to a corner store to buy something to eat or to pick up what you need. In the country that $2.00 won't even buy a gallon of gas to take you anywhere.

Hard times force hard choices. School just started. Family budget money allocated for other areas is being shuffled to provide the required items for school. Those needs top the list of buying items in most homes. Then what? Do you buy school supplies and clothing or rent and utilities? Do kids really need a new backback or is that just a want? What do you do when there's too much month when your money runs out?

Fortunately, there's help. Before we opened in Strawberry Plains the nearest help center was over 12 miles away. That's quite a distance if your car won't run well and seems further if you don't have a car.

We have an agreement with a local church to provide food boxes outside of their designated times. Yesterday was a miserable day for the church to have a food pantry open but open it was. Only a few came but those in did wreched your heart.

About an hour after closing time there was a knock on the door. The pastor opened it to find a grandmother standing outside with her little granddaughter in tow. Both looked tired and hot. The little girl carried a bottle filled with juice and her pacifier.

Hesitantly, the grandmother asked for a food box. The pastor was glad to oblige. While he was putting it together the little girl chattered about the day. When asked what kinds of cereal she liked for breakfast the little girl said she'd eaten only brownies that morning and announced that she was thirsty.

That's when the grandmother gave the pastor the empty cup she had brought with her and asked if the church gave away ice. The little girl wasn't to be outdone. She handed the pastor her warm bottle of juice. If ice was to be had she wanted some too please. The pastor thought this was an odd thing to do but was glad to fill both the cup and bottle.

The three chatted for a minute. It was an uneasy, nervous conversation. The pastor got the feeling the folks wanted something else but were nervous about asking. When domestic violence came up he called me and I immediately went over. The grandmother proved to be as reserved as the little girl was outgoing. You could tell she didn't like asking for help but I did my best to reassure her. She and the granddaughter are safe. She was asking on behalf of someone else. Then, the conversation wound down and I made ready to leave. That's when the grandmother nervously stepped up again.

She ducked her head and quietly asked if she could get help carrying the food box home. You see it's hard for her to carry it. She's a diabetic and has other physical problems. She wasn't sure she could manage the load and her granddaughter. It wasn't more than a mile or so. Could we give her a ride? If not, they'd take what they could carry.

I was shocked that they had walked in 100+ degree searing heat to get food. Of course they could have a ride! It took me 30 seconds to get the car and pull it around to the back door. We pulled to the end of a road where the houses saw better days years ago. At the end was a neat little house with pink toys strewn about the yard.

We pulled into the driveway. The little girl was excited at the idea of company. The grandmother wasn't. She asked the pastor to put the box on the porch so they could carry it in stages into the house. So, he did while I zeroed the mileage to see how far they'd walked.

I dropped the pastor back at the church and checked the odometer. It was just over 1 mile each way to the church from their house. That's a long way to walk in the heat with a little girl. We'll be back to check on them soon in case there's anything else we can do.

Keep them in your prayers will you?