My Great Aunt Ruby lived throught the Depression. I asked her once what she remembered about it, and if it was really difficult for her family. She told me that it was harder for them to get sugar and coffee, but otherwise they were just fine. Afterall, they were farmers!
From GRIT magazine's website, which is another great resource...
An Iowa woman recalls the effect that welfare's free groceries had on the work
ethic of some of her contemporaries...
During the depression era, our bank closed on December 22, 1932. My
brother-in-law had just taken a load of hogs to the Oscar Meyer company, and
rushed to the bank with the check, and managed to deposit it just before the 2
p.m. deadline. Of course no one told him that he wouldn't get it back for a
long, long time.
I had cashed my monthly teacher's check ($95) that day, but took it all in
cash as I had some Christmas gifts to buy, and had signed up for life insurance
and needed money for the first payment. That amounted to almost the only cash
our family had on hand for a long time, so the insurance payment was
delayed.
Since we lived on the farm, we always had plenty of food.
Read more at GRIT.com
http://cappers.grit.com/good-old-days/depression-era/free-groceries-anonymous.aspx#ixzz1tAmfTZQO
From GRIT magazine's website, which is another great resource...
An Iowa woman recalls the effect that welfare's free groceries had on the work
ethic of some of her contemporaries...
During the depression era, our bank closed on December 22, 1932. My
brother-in-law had just taken a load of hogs to the Oscar Meyer company, and
rushed to the bank with the check, and managed to deposit it just before the 2
p.m. deadline. Of course no one told him that he wouldn't get it back for a
long, long time.
I had cashed my monthly teacher's check ($95) that day, but took it all in
cash as I had some Christmas gifts to buy, and had signed up for life insurance
and needed money for the first payment. That amounted to almost the only cash
our family had on hand for a long time, so the insurance payment was
delayed.
Since we lived on the farm, we always had plenty of food.
Read more at GRIT.com
http://cappers.grit.com/good-old-days/depression-era/free-groceries-anonymous.aspx#ixzz1tAmfTZQO