Elijah was working at a medical billing and coding job when his eyesight began to fail. He couldn’t keep up with the work and he was fired.
“I have trouble with a lot of normal things I used to be able to do just fine,” he says. “I’m legally blind. I have no vision in my left eye. Vision in the right half of my right eye is gone. If you were to cover up your left eye and half of your right eye, you get tunnel vision. That’s what I see all the time. I have no depth perception above six inches away from my face and no peripheral vision whatsoever.”
Elijah’s sister, a social worker, suggested he file for disability insurance, but he is still awaiting a decision. He can’t drive. His wife works part-time in an elementary school cafeteria. The couple has four children, and they believe it’s their religious duty to help others who run into hard times. So from time to time, they offer their home to people who desperately need help.
“My wife is sometimes frustrated, I know,” Elijah said. “There have been times she just sits in our room and when I come in she’ll be crying. She says ‘How can we keep helping people when we can’t even help ourselves?’ And then we found St. Mary’s, and her spirits have been lifted.”
The family began visiting the St. Mary’s Food Bank a couple of months ago. They come when their monthly food stamp allotment runs out. Elijah says that getting help with food ensures they have enough money from their meager budget to pay bills.
“It keeps everything on, maintained and keeps everyone happy,” Elijah said. “The first time we came for food, we left crying. It made a such huge difference, and it does so every time.”
Thanks to kindhearted friends like you, Elijah and his wife know they will be able to keep food on the table even during their most difficult days.
