May and William’s Story
When William lost his job in 2021, he worried, first and foremost, about his family — his wife, May, and their children.
“It’s very stressful. Very stressful when you get cut from your job of 13 years. What are you going to do next? What is your next move? You have three daughters. You have a wife. You know what I mean? You get really panicky,” William said.
May doesn’t work because she has back problems, and without William’s income, the family was suffering. They couldn’t pay bills. They didn’t have any gas money to hunt for jobs, and the family almost lost their home.
May knew it was tearing her husband apart. “It stresses him out not being able to work,” she says. “He feels like he’s not providing for his family. But he’s an excellent dad. He loves his kids to death.”
Many struggling parents face an impossible choice: Feed my family or pay my bills? For May, it was an easy decision. “My kids are more important than my bills,” she said, “because I don’t want them to go to sleep crying and hungry. I want them to be happy and full.”
But the family admits they were just scraping by.
“It’s still tough to keep food on the table,” says William, “especially with grocery prices rising.”
To help William and May make ends meet, Feed the Children’s partner organization the Buffalo Dream Center stepped in.
“We could actually enjoy a whole meal,” May said, “instead of just picking here and there because we don’t have enough for a whole meal.”
The help kept coming — more food for the holidays and Christmas gifts for the family. Seeing their children smile on Christmas was a relief for the parents.
“That’s all I ever wish for, is that they’re happy. That’s all that matters to me is their happiness. Not mine. Theirs,” said May.
For William and May, getting help from Feed the Children and the Buffalo Dream Center renewed their faith in a better tomorrow.
“Getting help like that definitely gives us hope because it definitely means there’s still good people in this world,” William told us. “We would’ve lost our house and ended up in a homeless shelter. You helped us at our lowest time. Thank you!”
