“I actually got COVID-19 and went into the most serious form of it with cardiac arrest and respiratory arrest. I spent nine days in the hospital, and so it was really hard. I didn’t think I was going to make it… who would get my son if something were to happen to me?”

We met Araceli and her son at a drive-through food distribution in West Covina that the Food Bank co-sponsored with County Supervisor Hilda Solis. With her son sitting in her lap, she shared her story with us as volunteers loaded 80 lbs. of food into her trunk.

Like so many others in LA County, the pandemic drastically altered Araseli’s life forever. Soon after losing her job in May, she contracted COVID-19 and suffered significant complications. In the hospital, she tried to figure out who would care for her son if she died. She survived and was released, but then unemployment relief lapsed. To spend nine days in the hospital and come home to nothing was devastating. The Food Bank has been a vital lifeline for her through her recovery from COVID-19.

“When you’re a Mom, you do anything you can for your children and your family. And every little bit goes a long, long way. And what the Food Bank provides, oh my goodness, it’s invaluable, especially when you have nothing else but what the Food Bank can provide you.”

Despite the upheaval COVID-19 has caused in her life, Araceli feels blessed and fortunate to be alive. This is something we witness every day speaking with clients at food distributions. People who have lost their livelihood because of this pandemic truly appreciate that the Food Bank is there with lots of good food for their families to live on until things get better. Araceli had a special message for our donors:

“So thank you to everybody who donated, everybody who supports the Food Bank. Keep supporting it because it helps people like us who have lost their jobs, got the worst kind of Covid, and now just want to survive…“

At the end of our conversation, she looked at her son and said, “We’re doing the best we can. We’ve got each other, right, Baby?” Her son looked at her and said through his Mickey Mouse mask, “Yep.”

And she is so right. We’ve got each other.