Donald Mathisen

My name is Donald Mathisen. I am here to talk about the food situation in Sacramento, the lack of it, and the resources that are not available. I guess first off, being on disability and then being on Section 8, you’re not able to apply for any food stamps. You’re not able to apply for any kind of help whatsoever. The food banks only give you emergency food, which is one or two days total, and they don’t give a lot of fresh vegetables or anything like that so it’s mainly just pastas and whatever else they can find to give you.

 

You know, there are so many people in Sacramento that are hungry that the food banks are full all the time. There’s lines out the door. You wait for hours, and all you get is a bag of food, you know? So it’s very difficult.

 

I pay all my bills and there’s very little money left for food. I’ve lost so much weight these last two months because I’m under stress because of my living situation. My situation at home right now is I have a neighbor that’s just very loud, and the bed shakes constantly so I can’t lay there and just take a nap or even get to bed at times. I’m in the process of moving and it’s really hard to find a one bedroom Section 8 house in Sacramento, so that’s been a stress. The stress is trying to save the money to get there. I lost four friends last month. It was just a thing and thing again, you know? It kind of just overwhelmed me.

 

It’s just recent that trying to get food in my system or trying to get healthy food in my system is the most difficult. You know, like if it’s blended up or protein powders, things like that, but then you need fresh food.