TUCSON, Ariz. (KGUN) — On this Good Friday some people who might have trouble affording an Easter dinner had one early served by Gospel Rescue Mission. For them it's a strain to put eggs on the table and everything else.
The long lines of cars outside the Gospel Rescue Mission Center on South Palo Verde, and the long lines at the tables for an early Easter dinner measure the needs of our neighbors.
While Gospel Rescue Mission is best known for helping the homeless, the Mission is also helping people who may have a home and a car but are still just squeaking by—squeezed by costs of living that make living day to day challenge.
“We can only afford so much at the store. Everything has just gone up so high that it’s a struggle to keep milk and essentials.”
Robert Paulson says food from a church, the Food Bank and events like today help keep him going on a retiree’s income.
Rose Corral says she’s found help with strong community resources like a free vegetable garden but says it takes work and planning to live on the wrong side of a rough economy.
“I definitely have to budget and be a little bit more choosy, and find things on sale rather than just picking your favorites from the shelf.”
Reporter Craig Smith asked: “Do you ever hit things now where you’re like, ‘Oh Boy, not this week. Not getting that one?”
Corral: “Yes. That has happened a couple times.”
Volunteers and donors who stepped up despite the strain make meals like this possible. Congressman Juan Ciscomani was one of the people on the serving line.
Craig Smith asked: “When you open the grocery ads, what do you think anymore?”
Ciscomani: “Well, gosh, I mean, when you open up those those prices, and you see the cost, and it just it hurts, and I'm gone a week at a time in Washington and when I come back and you start shopping for groceries again and everything, you realize how much things go up just from one week to the next and people are suffering from that.”
But for this day the gift of generosity will hold off the hunger for at least another day.
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