PLANO — Kathyrine Jackson moved to Plano for its high-quality public schools.
She wants to set up her 12-year-old daughter for the best possible life.
But she’s finding that difficult as she struggles to scrape together enough money to buy groceries.
“A lot of people that look like me cannot feed their families,” Kathyrine said as she choked back tears. “It’s wonderful that they can eat at school, but it’s difficult when you look at your child and realize, ‘Wow, I don’t have enough to last.’”
“You’re judged by where you live, your zip code,” she said. “Just because you have that zip code, just because you may look OK doesn’t mean that you are OK.”
Kathyrine has found relief at Minnie’s Food Pantry.
“I chose this location intentionally, because five miles up the road, you have the Willow Bend community with million-dollar homes,” said founder Cheryl Jackson. “I wanted them to drive by, in this very affluent area, and say, ‘Why is that line out there and who are those people?’”
"While people tried to get me to move to different areas of the community, I was like, no," Cheryl said. "In the city of Plano, there are hundreds, perhaps even thousands of hungry people and I must be their voice.”
Minnie’s Food Pantry used to serve about 1,000 families a month, but their numbers continue to grow. They average 2,200 families a month.
That includes Navy veteran Doug Wesson.
“I’m basically starting all over, looking for work, it’s a process,” he said.
He served his country for 10 years, which included three deployments. But after a battle with addiction, he lost his job and his home. Without Minnie’s Food Pantry, he wouldn’t know where his next meal was coming from.
“There have been some times when I’ve had to go without,” he said. “It can happen to anybody. I’ve seen a lot of people that are college educated people that for one reason or another end up on the streets and homeless.”
Wesson loaded the boxes and cans he got from Minnie’s into two large duffel bags and walked to catch a bus.
People driving past him, probably wouldn’t wonder what he was carrying or why, and Kathyrine said that’s the problem.
“You look at me every single day, and you just walk by me,” she said about people in the community who are ignorant to the idea that people everywhere might be struggling to afford food.
“You don’t take the time to say, ‘Are you OK? How can I help you?’ and that’s difficult," she continued. "It’s very difficult, especially raising a child to show her that this world is not harsh. That’s what they see – the harsh instead of the goodness.”
“Minnie’s is one of the good things in this world," Kathyrine added.
Cheryl said her goal is to make sure that Minnie’s clients leave not just with food, but with dignity. Because demand is high, shelves at Minnie’s are partly bare right now, which she said is worrisome as the holidays approach.
Kathyrine left Minnie’s with a trunk full of food, that will take care of several dinners and breakfasts.
She said she felt “relief and gratitude” because she won’t have to tell her daughter.
“Well, this is all we have," she said.