Meet The Food Lady of Athens, Texas | Eastern North Carolina Now

    Publisher's Note: This post appears here courtesy of the John Locke Foundation. The author of this post is Donna Martinez.

    Buying food for the week ahead has become a discouraging adventure. There's no better indication that Joe Biden's economy doesn't work for America than my weekly trip to the grocery store(s). Where I used to find fully stocked shelves featuring every staple, whole food, and canned food I could possibly want, I now routinely find partially empty shelves.

    Once a one-stop process, my grocery runs now require stops at a minimum of two - sometimes three - stores to find everything I need and want. Every week I hope it will be different. But it's been like this for months and months as the pandemic and the government's command-and-control response have taken their toll. The experience has been sobering and humbling for me - an American accustomed to the choices and abundance of a free-market economy. Choices and abundance - and freedom - I've clearly taken for granted.

    Making things worse is the price tag attached to buying food. On my latest trip, I paid $1.99 for a canned product that, until recently, was $1.49/$1.59 depending on the store. Imagine what this dramatic inflation means to a family of modest means. I grew up as a child of working-poor parents. The memory of hard times doesn't go away. Imagine what Biden's economy means to a mom and dad trying to feed their kids. For some, it means being pushed over the edge from a paycheck-to-paycheck existence to one of dire need.

    Willa Johnson of Athens, Texas is meeting the need in her community. The founder of Feeding Kids Right talked with Newsmax about her effort and her inspiration - which included being fed a moldy sandwich at a community center when she was a kid. Willa isn't waiting for the government to "do something." She's stepping up and meeting the challenge herself. May each of us find it in our hearts to be like Willa.

    WATCH

   

Willa Johnson founded Feeding Kids Right to deliver home cooked meals that she cooks herself for kids in low-income areas in Texas. @Tom_Basile pic.twitter.com/2KFG7Clu2I

— Newsmax (@newsmax) January 8, 2022