Fighting Hunger: How Kinley and Her Daughter Find Hope This Holiday Season
We met Kinley outside the offices of 4 Good Community, a Feed the Children community partner. Kinley had just wrapped up a volunteer shift, and her four-year-old daughter, Molly, was playing happily nearby. A bright, energetic child, Molly is always eager to visit 4 Good. It means a chance to play with other kids at the organization’s children’s center, and maybe pick up a few of the snacks or treats she doesn’t normally get at home.
“It’s stressful,” Kinley admitted. “I try to do my best to do everything I can for her. Me and my boyfriend are trying to save money for a new apartment, and we want to be able to go and do fun stuff with Molly. I feel like I can’t do enough for her, even if I try.”
Kinley has a chronic health condition that makes it difficult to work a full-time job. Volunteering for short bursts at 4 Good are doable on good days, and she’s hopeful that a new medication will open more job opportunities in the future. Kinley applied for disability benefits – a process that can take nearly a full year for even an initial decision – but for the time being, she relies on SNAP to feed her family. However, those benefits were reduced significantly in 2023, making it harder for Kinley to stretch her budget.
The pinch of finances is felt yearlong but it’s worse during the holiday season. For other families, this is a time of excitement: other kids Molly’s age are writing letters to Santa, and helping their parents bake holiday cookies. They get to look forward to time off school, without worrying about food.
But when you’ve struggled throughout the year to buy food, rent, electricity – how do you afford the holiday?
“Christmas isn’t the same as it used to be,” Kinley told us. “We still celebrate it, but sometimes it’s hard because of the money. The budget that we have, we can’t afford everything.”
Your support, through Feed the Children programs, is crucial to families like Kinley’s. With the food they provide, she can stretch her budget just a little further.
“I’m grateful for that, because even if I don’t have enough money, I can come here and get the things that I really, really need,” she said. “I don’t get much, because I’d rather other people have it, but it’s amazing here.”
Despite her struggles, Kinley is still hopeful that someday she’ll be able to give Molly the kind of holiday other kids get. And thanks to caring people like you, this mom’s Christmas wish is closer to coming true!
