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My dad was a bricklayer, and mom worked front desk jobs. She came home every night to make us dinner and there was always food. I had never been poor or gone without until I found myself in need, in my late 20’s. It opened my eyes to a lot; particularly to something I had never seen.

When my husband Dave returned to school to get his Ph.D. in Physics, back in Arizona, we had three boys. After we had our  third child, we were needing more funds. We had food stamps, the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children (WIC), program benefits, and medical assistance due to our low income. Those were a big help, and when we ran out of them, my husband’s parents helped us on a regular basis.

There was not extra money. My husband was an underpaid graduate assistant, who also worked part time jobs during his full time studies. I stayed home, raising the boys; if I’d taken a job, the child care coverage would have cost most of what I’d earned.

We were living in a trailer park, close to the Vista Del Camino Park. The kids loved to go down and see the ducks and the geese and play on the playground. Across the water, there was a little building called the Vista Del Camino Food Bank. Since we frequented the park regularly, we couldn’t help but notice the sign on the outside of the building: “food.”

Click this link to read the entire story on Lou Ann, who is now a volunteer at Ozarks Food Harvest.

Ozarks Food Harvest has started a new partnership with Randy Bacon Photography to share stories of local people who struggle with hunger, and the individuals who are helping fight hunger. Everyone has a story, and we’re thankful the 7 Billion Ones project is helping tell them.