Claire (59)

“I didn’t live on the streets. I graduated from high school at 17 and left home due to “irreconcilable differences” with my parents. I spent a year living with my boyfriend in crap apartments taking waitress jobs, telephone solicitation or whatever else I could get. After that year I saw how my life was going to be useless unless I did something drastic, so I joined the military, became a dental assistant and got a college education. I ran a number of different businesses.

I have compromised my time but rarely my values.

I had been living in rural Colorado and moved to San Francisco. I’d seen rural poverty, but nothing on the scale of San Francisco. I went to the grocery store and there was so much produce it was nearly rotting off the shelves; when I went to the parking lot there was a guy who was going through the dumpster looking for something to eat. I’ve never understood this kind of food inequality.

A large part of my life revolves around food, helping provide food for p:ear and an interest in getting and making the best quality food for my family. Food is human fuel – it nourishes the mind and heart as well as the body.”