When I was young, my mother was a single mother of three small children. My dad left us when my sister was a baby. I am the oldest.

My brother was the middle child and has cerebral palsy. My mother could not work because she had to take care of my brother. We were on welfare and grew up poor, living in one of the housing projects in Phillipsburg, N.J.

We were happy. We didn’t know anything different.

We did not have the fanciest clothes or designer shoes. Most of our clothes were hand-me-downs, but they were always clean. My mother always went without anything fancy for herself.

We did not have a television until I was in eighth grade. It was black and white and small. But for us, it was wonderful. We had to get up and change the channels since remote controls weren’t yet available.

The main thing was that our mother always gave us love. We always had food on the table and lived in a clean row-style home.

I remember my mom would make us egg salad and tuna fish sandwiches every Saturday. We loved it. We had normal breakfasts and nutritious dinners.

During grade school in the 1960s, everyone went home for lunch. When we went to middle and high school, we brought a bagged lunch. My mom always gave us an apple for a snack when we came home from school.

We did not own a car and walked everywhere we had to go. Our housing project was one block inside the school transportation line, so I, and later my sister, walked a mile to and from high school every day in rain, snow and sunshine.

There was a major grocery store several blocks from our home. We needed to bring the shopping cart home with the four small bags of groceries and always brought the cart back. We never had steak, shrimp or any of the expensive food items. My mom made a lot of Hamburger Helper-type meals.

Honestly, we thought everyone ate the way we did. We knew many others were in the same economic situation we were in and everyone got along.

The Merriam-Webster Dictionary definition of humanity is compassionate, sympathetic or generous behavior or disposition: the quality or state of being humane.

Why am I telling you about my family and my life? It is because I and every Whitehall-Coplay Hunger Initiative volunteer and donor who helps with the food pantry, vegetable and herb garden, free community meals and at our bingo games has humanity.

Our guests truly need us with whatever their life situations entail. Some cannot work due to physical or mental disabilities. Some own or rent their homes but barely manage to pay their mortgage or rent, rental or homeowner’s insurance and utilities. Others have medical bills and need medicines. Some do not own cars and rely on friends, co-workers, public transportation or ride shares to get them to and from work and our pantry. Others are working three jobs just to make ends meet.

You are helping WCHI feed, on average, 1,200 low-income people a month at our pantry. Our guests and everyone associated with WCHI thank all of you!