Our Impact

Barbara grew up in Sikeston but left home at 21 to be with her mom in Michigan. Twenty years later, she returned, ready to be closer to family and enjoy warmer weather. “I was tired of Michigan,” she said. “I thought, ‘I gotta get south to warmer weather.’” But on a chilly November afternoon, she waited in line at one of Southeast Missouri Food Bank’s Holiday Mobile Food Pantries. A single mother to a 14-year-old boy, she was grateful to know their Thanksgiving table would be full with a ham, stuffing and other traditional Thanksgiving sides.

“He loves food. He exercises his full right to be a teenager,” she said with a laugh. But that works out, because Barbara loves to cook, especially fried chicken and fish. It’s one way she shows care for family and friends. Barbara worked mostly as a caretaker, saying she’d work seven days a week helping her clients … except for Sunday mornings. “On Sunday, I’m going to church, so I’ll come after church,” she said. “I really wanna be with the Lord and loving on the Lord. That’s what you do on Sundays.”

After a lifetime spent caring for others, she found the same support from a mobile food pantry, allowing her to share a meal and a holiday with the people she loves most.