Joe Chautin is Northshore Food Bank's Chairman of the Board.
I was one of six children. I had no idea that we lived below the poverty level. I watched my mother gather and save every grocery store coupon she could, scouring the newspaper for sales or deals on food. We gathered the coupons with her, and we shopped for those sale items with her. On Saturdays, Dad would drive us to four or five different grocery stores so we could get the sale items only. We always stopped at the day-old bread store, where discounted bread, a major staple for us, was available. As kids, my mother made this all a game so we thought it was just part of life or getting a good deal. But later, as an older child, I figured out what was happening. I noticed when we had that tuna casserole twice in the same week. Or when real milk gave way to powdered milk. Or when you only got one small piece of something. Or when our cabinets had only generic brands, and the refrigerator was mostly empty. Or when a relative delivered food or a meal to our house, seemingly out of the blue. Or when hamburger was “stretched” with “fillers” like bread crumbs. Or when a block of cheese appeared in the refrigerator that, unbeknownst to me at the time, had come from a government subsidy. We never ate out at restaurants. Later, as a teenager, I remember noticing that my mother’s plate was missing something like meat when we ate around the dinner table. Or hearing her “I ate already” excuse that, to my teenage eyes and ears, didn’t quite ring true. I knew things weren’t right, and that our family was struggling to make it.
When I started helping at the Food Bank due to someone else’s urging, I kept hearing the phrase “food insecurity” and after digging into it a bit deeper, I finally remembered these details and realized that my childhood was a vivid, lived definition of food insecurity. My family was the perfect example of the 1 in 6 families in Louisiana who are food insecure, scrambling to put food on the table. Now as a board member, donor and volunteer, I have the great honor and privilege of fighting and begging for those who don’t have enough, who are food insecure. I am humbled and grateful for each day I get to serve those in need through the Food Bank.
