Kentucky
Tonya gleefully moved to northern Kentucky two years ago after she and her husband were married. Considering her husband’s family still resided in the town flanked by the Ohio River, Tonya was eager to move her teenage daughter to a place providing a built-in family structure.
The wedding and moving expenses weren’t exactly cheap, and in the dwindling economy, Tonya took the first job she could get. Her full-time management position with a mail carrying company paid $10.50 an hour, but her husband’s job as a tool and die setter kept the family of three afloat. Utility bills and house and truck payments were excessive, forcing Tonya to rely on Dare to Care Food Bank’s mobile pantry at St. Peter’s United Church of Christ.
At first, Tonya came for the food. But she soon found hope within the congregation of a church that spent much of its time trying to reignite the dashed pride of its depressed neighborhood. Compelled by their optimism, Tonya would come in early to attend the meditation service held before each monthly produce distribution. Soon she was cross-stitching banners to adorn the dark wood walls and columns of the century-old church. As time passed, she found herself integrated into a new type of family.
Their support meant the most during September 2008, when Tonya’s husband suffered severe hip and leg injuries during a catastrophic windstorm fueled by Hurricane Ike—he had to stop working immediately. To make matters worse, Tonya underwent a hysterectomy with subsequent surgeries to remove infections. After 21 days in the hospital, she’s still taking some time off from work to fully recuperate. Sporadic disability checks haven’t been enough to help her family, so she has turned St. Peter’s for more food than she’s used to receiving. Now she also relies on the people at St. Peter’s to get her through the emotional ordeal.
With the food and support, Tonya can look forward to getting back to work one day, and hopefully attain her dream of attending school for interior design. For now, she knows she can always put her creative skills to work by cross-stitching a new face for an old church, a gesture of gratitude to her new family.
Find out more about the Dare to Care Food Bank.