TUCSON, Ariz. (KGUN) — As Rachel Connors played bingo, a smile came to her face.
Sister Jose Women’s Center is a lifeline for Connors, who has been homeless for the past few months.
“It’s exciting. It opens up so many doors,” she said.
However, behind that smile, she has a mix of emotions like anxiety and depression.
It’s her first time being homeless and she said it’s been a tough experience.
“I couldn’t afford much food. I didn’t have a vehicle. I couldn’t afford a vehicle. I had to rely on the bus to go to and from where I needed to go,” Connors said.
After not being able to afford rent, her 14 year old son went to go live with his father.
“It’s very hard. Very very hard. My son and I were very close,” Connors said.
The founder of Sister Jose Women’s Center, Jean Fedigan, said 42 women can sleep at the shelter overnight.
She said since about late last year to early this year, they’ve been getting full because of inflation and are having to turn away a couple of women each day.
She said the age group they’re seeing the most are senior citizens.
However, it’s not just places like shelters that are feeling the impact of inflation. It’s also places like food banks.
Tom McKinney, the CEO of Interfaith Community Service’s food bank said they have 50 percent more people coming to the food bank than last year.
He said they serve at least 150 people in 3 hours and said because of inflation, they’re spending more on products than last year.
Just this year, they spent about $20 thousand to $30 thousand more than last year.
He said the products that have gone up in price the most are meat products like chicken.
“A lot of times it’s donated, but not in the quantities we need,” McKinney said.
As for donations, he said the need is 2 to 3 times greater than the donations they are getting right now.
“We’re still taking in donations at relatively the same or better than last year,” he said.
Connors said it’s these kinds of services that are giving people in her same situation some hope.
“Once you come out of being so low, you actually see that you have a future,” she said.
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Andrew Christiansen is a reporter for KGUN 9. Before joining the team, Andrew reported in Corpus Christi, Texas for KRIS6 News, Action 10 News and guest reported in Spanish for Telemundo Corpus Christi. Share your story ideas with Andrew by emailing andrew.christiansen@kgun9.com or by connecting on Facebook, or Twitter.
