wouldn’t say we’re check-to-check,
but pretty darn close,” says Me-
lissa Carlisle, whose husband, like
Desirée’s, serves in the Navy. “If a tire
blows, that’s it. We don’t have much
in the bank. People have this illusion
that we [in the military] are rolling in
dough, but we’re not. We’re just really
good with the little bit of money that
we get.”
Data from the 2017 annual Cen-
sus Bureau survey shows that 16,000active-duty service members received
food stamps that year. But that num-
ber doesn’t include the thousands of
military families around the country
who are not eligible for food stamps
because they make too much money
to qualify and yet routinely rely on
charities or loans from family to get
by. In fact, a survey from Blue Star“Today was not a good sale day,”
Desirée says as she and the kids leave
their local San Diego supermarket.
When you’re on a tight budget, she
adds, “you kind of have to get creative.
Some days we go to a food pantry.”
That’s right: To put food on the ta-
ble, the Mieirs, along with thousands
of other military families around
the country, rely on the kindness of
strangers.
At Dewey Elementary School, a
truck full of fruits and vegetables
arrives every two weeks, courtesy of
a hunger-relief organization called
Feeding San Diego, a member of Feed-
ing America. A team of volunteers
quickly sets up a distribution line in
the gym where families—military
folks, the newly unemployed, the
homeless—will pick through non-
perishable items such as beans, rice,
and flour along with the fresh produce,
all of which are free to those in need.
“I knew we wouldn’t be wealthy,”
Desirée says about life in the military.
“But I thought it would be a lot more
manageable. I didn’t know I’d have to
try this hard.”
Her one solace: She’s not alone. “I“I WOULDN’T SAY
WE’RE CHECK-TO-
CHECK, BUT PRETTY
DARN CLOSE.”D
esirée Mieir has four children under the age of
ten, including a set of eight-year-old twins, and
a husband in the Navy who has been deployed for
seven months. She knew life as a military spouse
would have challenges, but she never imagined
that the biggest one would be feeding her kids.Reader’s Digest National Interest
78 april 2020 | rd.com