Carl lives in Dickson with his wife, Elaine. They’ve both worked hard their whole lives, but as Carl has gotten older its gotten harder for him to work.

Carl recently had to have two separate knee replacement surgeries. The strain from the surgeries and the time needed to recover forced him into an early retirement.

Because of this, Carl isn’t able to receive his full retirement benefits and his family is surviving off a small amount of savings and SSI benefits.

With the recent fluctuations in gas prices and ever-increasing inflations, their money just isn’t going as far as it used to.

“The prices of gas, all of that, it’s hard,” Carl shared.

Luckily, when times get hard Carl and Elaine are able to visit the Second Harvest Mobile Pantry at the Dickson YMCA. There, they are able to take home nearly 2 weeks worth of fresh fruits and vegetables, hearty shelf-stable staples, and other necessities.

Carl and Elaine are just one of hundreds of families in Dickson County who are supported by distributions like this.

Currently, 1 in 8 people – including 1 in 7 children – in Middle and West Tennessee do not have reliable access to food.

But because of friends like you, Second Harvest is able to partner with organizations like the Dickson YMCA and provide meals and hope for our neighbors in need.