Pull Yourself Up By Your Own Bootstraps

The following story was written by Barb Downs, Director of Outreach and Program Services at Channel One Food Bank and Food Shelf in Rochester. It comes from “Sharing Our Stories, Narratives of the People That Channel One Impacts”, a package of stories relating to food shelves compiled by Rebecca Wolf. Please feel free to forward this story on to your community via your volunteers, clients, donors, and the local media.

A few years ago I worked with a food shelf that had a new volunteer. They were very excited about her because she owned a business in town for many years and had influence in the community. As she began her volunteering efforts, the rest of the team became aware of her opinions about people in need. She was a woman of great faith and she believed that we should all learn to pull ourselves up by our own bootstraps. You know, I am sure that this means to improve your situation by your own efforts. It didn’t make for a great relationship and her volunteering with the food shelf didn’t last very long.

But, it did cause me to think about bootstraps and how they relate to the individuals and families we serve. And, it seems to me that people who use food shelves have differing experiences with bootstraps and those experiences are sometimes different than yours and mine.

Some people have never owned bootstraps, have never seen them and wouldn’t recognize them if they did. If they observe their neighbors with bootstraps and get the sense that they should have their own pair, they don’t have the knowledge, resources or the experience to get them.

Others have had their own pair of bootstraps, often since birth. The day they come to the food shelf it is because theirs have gone missing or been taken. Let me share an example.

Imagine Jane. She is a mother and homemaker. She has three very young children and has always had bootstraps. She is married to a man who is a professional and makes very good money. She not only has bootstraps, but they are of the highest quality leather, and they are always well oiled and cared for.

One day her husband leaves for work and that evening he doesn’t return. She discovers in short order that not only has he left but cleaned out their checking and savings account besides. He has taken her bootstraps and now she has none. She has been a long time supporter of her local food shelf and it’s the only resource that she knows. So that is where she goes. She is lucky because the staff at the food shelf knows the system of safety nets that we have and they help her to navigate them.

While she is applying for this and applying for that and waiting out the time so that she can become eligible under her own minimal income instead of her husband’s vast past income, she visits the food shelf once each week to help herself and her children get through this.

Eventually, she gets and job and she finds a pair of bootstraps, nothing like she had before, but usable. They aren’t the best, so occasionally, they break. And then we see her at the food shelf again until she can gather enough resources to repair them and then she is out on her own again using her own bootstraps.

A few people, and this population is growing, have had their own perfectly good bootstraps for decades. And after 70, 80 or 90 years of use, they have worn them out. Imagine, she is eighty years old and her husband has died. His social security and pension die with him. She has $756 of gross income each month. She looks down one day and the bootstraps are broken and the leather so thin it can no longer be repaired. As she looks at the money she has, she realizes that in no way can she afford to buy new ones, no matter how cheaply she can find them.

Today, the number of individuals and families without bootstraps is increasing. High fuel prices are driving up food and housing costs and wages are flat. This means bootstraps are either unattainable or there is no money to repair them. The baby boomers are growing older and many will wear out their bootstraps and won’t have what it takes to replace them.

As a community, we cannot believe that every individual and family should be able to take care of themselves; to improve their situation only through their own efforts. They need our help.