Gale G

Child(ren): 5 children

Issues: Food and Hunger, Environment, Family

Policies & Programs: Education and Opportunity

I fear for my children. Because you see it every day--innocent children getting killed. I would love to see my children to get a good education and go off to college and become doctors and pro football stars and whatever their goals are. I just want better.

Gale’s participation in Witnesses to Hunger was complimented by the eagerness of her husband, Alfonso, to contribute to the project. Gale and Alfonso are in their forties and have five children, including two seven-month old twins. They live in public housing and are block captains and very active in their community. They worry about the safety of their neighborhood and the lack of community, as well as the missed opportunities for young men and women.

Gale has worked for the past ten years for the school district of Philadelphia, and still only makes about $10 an hour, not nearly enough to feed five children. Alfonso stays home and takes care of their three youngest children—Alfonso never finished high school and dealt drugs to make a living when he was younger, and he is acutely aware of the wasted potential of black men in urban areas, and the violence and drug addiction that result. Although now a respected and established member of the community, Alfonso still feels that society does not have a respectable place for a black man without an education. Gale and Alfonso receive Food Stamps and while they never go hungry, they are frustrated by the inability to eat healthy food, both because of the high cost and the lack of healthy options available in the neighborhood. The corner stores do not carry fresh produce, and the nearest grocery store is fifteen blocks away, difficult to travel to if you have bags of groceries and small children.

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Gale G

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