Chattanooga Area Food Bank

Sherry Jenkins currently lives in Sale Creek, Tennessee, but she’s been all around the Chattanooga area. She grew up in Hixson, lived in Georgia for a while, then moved to Sale Creek to manage property owned by her cousin who’s ill and unable to care for the house alone. Her goal is to clean up the property and make a home for him. “It’s not easy, but that’s what I’m trying to do,” she says. “It was like a rainforest when I got there. It was just covered with trees. You couldn’t really tell what was there anymore, until I started clearing it out.” She lives in a camper on the property, playing host to a variety of animals. “I’ve got five cats,” she says with a laugh. “Two I brought with me, and three just showed up.” She explains that a nationwide shortage of cat food has forced her to buy a different brand than usual, and her cats don’t like it. “They’d rather go outside and catch mice.” Sherry has one dog, and she looks after her son’s dogs while he’s at work. She proudly states she’s a breast cancer survivor and has been cancer-free since 2015. In each of Sherry’s stories, she lends a hand wherever it’s needed, without a second thought. Whether it’s a kitten or a cousin who needs a proper roof over their head, Sherry steps in. Then, food prices started soaring last fall, and Sherry needed help. She’s known about the Chattanooga Area Food Bank for a while, but only started visiting the Foxwood Food Center about six months ago. “I knew it helped a lot of people,” she says, “but I just didn’t need it…I should leave it for somebody else to have it.” But, she says, she’s at a place in her life where the amount of money coming in doesn’t cover her food costs. She likes coming to Foxwood because she can choose the foods she wants. “It gives you a sense of still feeling like you’re in control of something,” she says. Sherry says she’ll go to work later in the evening, and she’ll keep looking for food to satisfy her picky group of cats.