By Bonnie DeCaro-Monahan
Winter 2020
After 17 years, David Hall had to leave his career at Microsoft due to health complications associated with kidney failure. His life was being sustained by dialysis treatments 10 hours a day, 3 days per week. The prognosis wasn’t good until 2015 marked the end of a 10-year wait for a kidney and he was able to undergo a successful transplant procedure. Post-transplant, David was able to receive disability, which was not sufficient to sustain him, but he was fortunate to find stable housing at the YWCA in the Issaquah Highlands.
For a period of time, David didn’t have a vehicle and the exorbitant cost of private transportation made accessing basic needs resources virtually impossible. Just trying to get to his medical appointments could cost $30-$50/trip and, as David shared, “it becomes a choice between eating and getting to your appointments.”
We were thrilled to be able to enroll him in our Groceries to Go program where David could have groceries delivered to his home every week. Because of the nature of the program, he was able to request specific foods to accommodate his health-related dietary restrictions. David shared that “Utilizing the Groceries to Go program, I am able to save $342 per month {for food} in addition to transportation costs…[This] allows me to get diabetic supplies that ordinarily would not be covered.”
Prior to accessing resources, David had always been a financial supporter of the Issaquah Food & Clothing Bank as part of the Eastridge Church community. Now that he is on the receiving side, David still acts as a strong advocate for our services, making connections for others needing access to basic needs resources. When asked what he thinks other barriers are to people receiving help, other than transportation, David shared, “there’s a certain amount of dignity that I’ve found that people try to maintain, which I know is hard.” This is why we work so hard to create a low-barrier, dignified experience for everyone seeking resources. In reflecting on his personal experience with the Issaquah Food & Clothing Bank, David said, “They treat you with dignity through the whole process.”