Janet and Ed
“Guess how old I am?” That’s how Janet likes to break the ice with everyone she meets. Sixty-four? Seventy, at the most? No one ever even comes close. At eighty-two, Janet is proud of the independent, self-sufficient life she’s led. After forty years working for an insurance company on Main Street in Butler, Janet experienced a simple slip and fall at the grocery store back in 2014 that changed the course of her life. She hit her head and broke a hip, and has suffered considerable memory loss since the incident. She had to alter her lifestyle a bit. That’s when she discovered The Salvation Army Butler soup kitchen.
“Everything’s always so good,” she says of the food served; with a smile, she adds she’s not even upset she forgot how to cook. But, the benefits of attending the soup kitchen have gone far beyond an occasional hot meal. Janet loves to socialize, and everyone at the soup kitchen knows her now; she almost enjoys royal status here! Most importantly, this is where she met Ed.
Ed is also a Butler soup kitchen regular…he’s actually been coming for decades. But his life changed too, once Janet showed up. They’ve become close friends. Ed helps and supports Janet in many ways – carrying groceries up the flights of stairs to her apartment, making sure she gets around town safely, and helping jog her memory throughout the day. Together, they laugh and look forward to what’s next. And they know they’ll always have a safety net and a place to share lunch at The Salvation Army.