" A Place at the Table" Food Bloggers Against Hunger

When I was in elementary school I hung out with a girl named Donna who lived around the block from me. Her mom worked as a waitress. She didn't remember her dad. Her older brother and sister were in high school. I used to go to the grocery store with her. Why a fifth grader was in charge of shopping I didn't know? Donna was often alone, so I guess if she got hungry she had to shop herself. She paid the grocer with food stamps. I had never seen these before. The only stamps I knew were the green kind that my mom saved up in a booklet and redeemed them at a special "Green Stamp" store for things like crockpots and toasters.

My mother said that Donna could eat at our house whenever she wanted too. I didn't really understand why she had such a privilege that my other friends didn't have. But, sometimes when I ate with Donna she would make really weird things. Like pasta with tomato soup or mayonnaise sandwiches. I didn't understand that sometimes this was all she had to eat.