How a Missed Bus Helped Victoria Find the CES Food Shelf
A few months ago, Victoria was faced with a dilemma all-too familiar for parents with school-aged children. Her kids had missed the bus.
“On my way back from dropping them off, I saw [CES] had food outside and it was free. One of the volunteers told me about the food shelf, and I’ve been coming ever since.”
Community Emergency Services’ food shelf—also known as CES—is located in the Ventura Village neighborhood of Minneapolis and provides fresh groceries for neighbors. CES receives fresh produce and other groceries from Second Harvest Heartland.
Victoria has four children, but her youngest daughter has a taste for African dishes.
“She was the only one born in the United States but she loves African food. For her I get all the African greens. If I make jollof rice, she can eat that all day,” she says with a laugh. “I’ll roast the sesame seeds and blend it with pepper and bouillon just so it has more of an ‘African’ taste.”
Finding specialty groceries can be expensive. “It’s thirteen dollars just for the cassava leaf. One mango costs eight dollars. Things are really expensive. So, what I get from here I don’t take for granted. It really helps me a lot. Sometimes I can find spicy peppers. I can always find onions and cooking oil. It’s a blessing.”
Victoria remembers the first time she came to CES. “Any time you need to ask someone for help, you ask yourself ‘is this going to make my situation worse, or is it going to elevate me?’ The very first time I walked in here, the people brought smiles and reassurance. I felt like I still had hope,” she says.
Victoria also has a very specific diet, due to some fertility complications. “Back home, I had a procedure because I had an ectopic pregnancy. When I was healing, my intestines grew into the wall of my uterus. No one knew. When I had my daughter, she was a C-section. When they opened me up, they discovered this, so I had to go to a special surgeon to have a procedure done.”
While Victoria has recovered from her procedures, she must be cautious about her diet. “I can’t eat anything too heavy. I’ll eat one big meal a day, usually rice. The rest of the time I eat fruit and vegetables. I make a lot of smoothies.”
Victoria is grateful for the selection and the kindness she feels every time she steps into CES. “If my kids hadn’t missed the bus, I wouldn’t know about this. I am blessed when I come here.”