The pandemic has left mothers struggling to feed their kids

Connecting the Dots – #YesThisIsAnArtsStory Repost from The 19th News

Shefali Luthra | 24 November 2020

Katherine Davila has been struggling to feed her family since March, when she lost her job as a preschool teacher.

So Davila, a 46-year-old single mother in Fort Lauderdale, has cut spending — no recreation, no extra clothes — everywhere she could. For food, she relies on donations from her local church and from charitable organizations. That means she isn’t always able to give her two kids — who have switched to remote learning — the snacks they’re used to having. When there still isn’t enough food for her and her kids, she serves herself less. It’s what any mother would do, she says.

“As a mother, you would just stop consuming as much food,” Davila said through a translator. “You would be eating less, so the kids would have bigger portions.”

Because Davila’s kids are in remote school, she has to stay home with them; it’s impossible to go find work. She has applied for benefits through the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), but so far she hasn’t been approved. Since she can’t drive, she has gotten food delivered to her house from local food aid programs, which she shares with a neighbor who is facing similar strains.