UFB Changes the Narrative on Getting Food Assistance
Cheryl Primm was the first to arrive at the 2022 Thanksgiving Distribution AND the 2022 Christmas Distribution put on by United Food Bank. She arrived at both distributions around 3:30 am and waited until the food started getting distributed at 9am. Cheryl even offered to help the United Food Bank staff while she watched them set up for the event all morning.
Cheryl first visited a United Food Bank distribution in 2020 during the Christmas distribution, just a few months after she left Missouri for Arizona. “I was so excited to get a honey baked ham. I thought, ‘St. Louis never did anything like this. It felt like I was finally in the right place.’”
She remembered a time when she was a kid and her sister gave her advice for her hunger; she said, “drink some water to fill your empty stomach.” She recalls seeing her mother give her and her sister the food from her plate so that they weren’t hungry. As a kid, Cheryl’s family never reached out for food assistance. She shared that in the 1960’s, her family thought about getting Food Stamps, however, “it was much harder then, my mother said that they asked too many questions. So we just suffered in silence.” However, when Cheryl was in her 30’s, she went to a food pantry to get some food. “Going to a food bank was against how I was raised but I had to go because I had to eat. I didn’t want to be my kids’ responsibility.”
She recalled the food being disgusting and “it was like the food was about to be thrown away. So they gave it to you, so you could throw it away. You couldn’t eat that stuff. They treated us like dogs.” After what felt like a lifetime of struggling with food insecurity and hunger, she felt so disappointed and angry that when she finally reached out for help, she was treated inhumanely. This repelled her from seeking food assistance for a long time.
Later in life, she made the time to volunteer to serve food to her unhoused neighbors in St. Louis. She talked about that experience, saying “It was as if these volunteers and the organization did not see the homeless as humans. Even though they felt like they were doing the good deed of ‘feeding the homeless,’ they showed little care in actually treating them well.” She saw people picking up “already spoiled meat” off the ground and continuing to put it in the sandwiches they were making. “I couldn’t stand the way they were treating other people. I used to be one of those people. It brought tears to my eyes, I can’t stand to see someone be mistreated.”
Cheryl sometimes continues to struggle with food security, being on a fixed income. United Food Bank has helped to alleviate some of those additional stressors in her life. “Sometimes I just need some additional help. I love to cook for my friends on the holidays, and this helps me to feed some other neighbors as well. Nothing I get goes to waste. If there is something I don’t like or that I know I can’t use, I will find someone to take it so nothing goes to waste.”
Cheryl expressed her gratitude for United Food Bank and their ability to rewrite her relationship with getting food assistance. “You guys always have a smile on your face, even in those early hours of the morning. And the food! I get so excited to get the food. I will never get over that first honey baked ham I got from you all my first Christmas here.”
“The food bank gives me the strength to keep fighting my battles.” She tells people who may be struggling in their lives “to keep pushing through. Everything happens for a reason and you gotta keep pushing through to find out what that reason is.” Cheryl continues to smile and laugh through everything that has happened in her life. She said that she can’t let people take her smile away from her. “I love to smile. I love to laugh. The second I stop, I know I am letting other people win.”
Volunteering, donating and supporting United Food Bank helps our neighbors like Cheryl. Food insecurity can affect anyone at any time. “My life was normal. I went from working everyday, over time, to disability checks, food stamps and food banks. My weekly income is now my monthly check. You never know, it could be you.”
Cheryl continues to feed those around her with what she can. She ended our conversation by saying “I don’t want anyone to be hungry like I was.” Visit our volunteer page to find out ways you can help support United Food Bank’s mission to unite communities by alleviating hunger.
Written by Sarah Bathe
