If COVID doesn't get me, hunger will

I met Sergio in May, 2020 under I-35 while he was picking up an EAT bag. He was talking to the staff from The Other Ones Foundation (TOOF) who were distributing food at their Mobile Hygiene stop. Through the noise of wind blowing and cars driving overhead I could hear “If COVID doesn’t get me, hunger will.”

While I’d spoken and written about the dramatic changes in access to food, hygiene and Internet since COVID-19 hit, hearing it like this was a punch in the gut. It was also motivation to work harder, because if that’s what we were doing, stopping hunger from forcing people to either suffer or make unsafe choices, then we needed as much buy-in and support for the program as possible.

A week or two later I went back to talk to Sergio again. He was sitting near his tent that was under the off-ramp near the shower set-up. That was when I talked to him more, got his full name, and got his permission to share more of his story. He’d been living there for about two years and was truly shocked by how quickly the virus had changed life in his tent. Work opportunities were gone, restaurants were closed, people weren’t opening their car windows – not that there were many cars around to stop.

Mostly I was struck by his humor. He told me his doctor diagnosed him as decrepit and unable to work. He talked about the food fairies that dropped meals and resources over the guardrail where he and his neighbor lived. When I thanked him for talking more with me he told me to come back whenever, “mi casa is su casa,” he said.

So this week I went back again. He said food was still tight but that the EAT bags were helping. He was just opening this week’s delivery when I got there, telling me this one came just in time. He’d recently received a new phone from a service agency and was charging it at the TOOF Mobile Shower set-up that was on site that day. He was charging it while a friend slept, because when that friend woke up he was going to be surprised with the opportunity to call his mom. It was special to see how different resources from across the city come together to support to support the homeless community.

Sergio’s hope for EAT is that it continues into the recovery, because it is going to take a while for everything and everyone to open up to giving again.