Our Impact

 Linda lives in East Prairie, where life has slowed in ways she never expected.

“I don’t have much income coming in,” she said simply.

Each month, Linda picks up a senior food box through the Commodity Supplemental Food Program (CSFP), a USDA program distributed locally by Southeast Missouri Food Bank through a network of partners across its 16-county service area. For her—and for 5,600 seniors the program serves each month in Southeast Missouri —it’s more than just a box of groceries. It’s stability. It’s relief.

“It means a lot to me,” Linda said. “When I get it, it helps out… humongous.”

In a region where 1 in 8 seniors faces food insecurity, many are living on fixed incomes that don’t stretch the way they used to. Linda receives about $928 a month in Social Security and $150 in SNAP (formerly food stamps).

 

“That don’t go very far,” she said. “It don’t even feed me maybe two weeks, and then I scramble for food.”

The monthly CSFP box helps fill that gap. Each one includes about 35 pounds of shelf-stable foods: fruits, vegetables, proteins, grains, and dairy. They are items that can be turned into real, nourishing meals.

“The fruit and everything is really good … the noodles and everything they always send,” Linda said. “You can make meals out of it, and so it really helps me out tremendous.”

Linda worked for years, often putting in long hours. She spent a decade managing a store, working up to 80 hours a week at times. But ongoing health issues—including diabetes, chronic back pain, and limited mobility—forced her into early retirement.

“It’s not that I didn’t want to work,” she said. “My body just wouldn’t let me.”

Now, everyday decisions come down to tradeoffs: food, gas, medical needs. For seniors like Linda, programs like CSFP provide a consistent source of nutrition in the midst of that uncertainty.

“When you don’t get help from anywhere else, this here is great for me,” she said.

For Linda, that monthly box isn’t just food.

It’s the difference between getting by and going without.