On a slippery slope, going downhill

The following is a first-person account by an individual who is helped by the Salvation Army food bank, the recipient of this year’s Be An Angel campaign. To donate, visit The Herald office, Monday through Friday, between 9 a.m. and 4 p.m., at 101-186 Nanaimo Ave. W., or visit www.pentictonherald.ca.

It’s almost Christmas and I am not able to make my minimum payments, let alone afford a present for my boy or a special Christmas meal.

Both my mother and father passed away in the last two years. I am feeling anxious and alone, but very glad I came in to The Salvation Army.

I dragged my heels, thinking that I should not go in and ask for help while I still had a car and a cellphone. I had convinced myself that I needed to give those things up first. But the person at the food bank said that was nonsense.

She said that someone did not have to lose every material possession they had before asking for help, that many of the working poor need to ask for assistance at times. She said that for my son’s sake it was best I had wheels and a phone.

I’m not really working poor — I’m not unemployed either. I’m seasonally employed and recently divorced. I’m living in a basement suite with my son and still just barely making ends meet.

I do need my vehicle to allow me to get what work I can during the winter when my son is in daycare. But things have taken a turn for the worse there, too. He has been assessed and is autistic. I feel like I’m on a slippery slope going downhill.

My mom would have said “there are always those far worse off than you, just look around.” And I should be taking my son by the hand and going out to volunteer at the Soupateria or something on Christmas Day, but he’s too young for that.

A few years from now, I will do that. This year, I will say thank you to the Salvation Army in Penticton for providing my son and I a Christmas, and I promised myself to take him to a Salvation Army Kettle so that he can drop a nickel or dime in the globe.

We thank you and we won’t forget your kind assistance.