Sherry R

Child(ren): One child, Christopher, 1 year and 4 months old

Issues: Food and Hunger, Housing, Health, Family, Childhood, Breaking the Cycle

I wish the city could see what I’m going through … I wish they could live in my place for a month and see what I go through when I have to go and look in my refrigerator [and think] oh, I can’t eat this right now. Or, why’d they cut me off from cash when we needed it? Why did the lower my food stamps? Why is my landlord being like this? I wish that they could see what I’m seeing…

Sherry is nineteen and the mother of a one year old boy, Christopher. She lives with Christopher’s father in a small apartment in Northeast Philadelphia. Sherry had been receiving cash assistance and Food Stamps until she brought her boyfriend’s pay stubs into the Welfare office; she was told that his $8-an-hour job put them in a higher income bracket and they were no longer eligible for cash assistance and their Food Stamps were reduced. Sherry has been looking for a job but thinks that no one will hire her because she has to bring her son along to fill out job applications—she does not receive CCIS and cannot afford to pay a babysitter to watch Christopher when she goes out.

Sherry grew up in a supportive foster home and was taken back by her father when she was thirteen. Her father was physically abusive so Sherry eventually dropped out of high school and moved out to get away from him. She and her boyfriend are now struggling to provide for Christopher and sustain themselves—the Food Stamps that they receive usually run out a week before the next month’s are issued and they have to scrape by, eating smaller meals and relying on free pizza from a relative’s restaurant.

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Sherry R

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