We Need to Continue to Fight

As part of our celebration of Women History Month, we’re sharing stories from women and their experiences with childhood hunger. Today we feature Lisa Davis, senior vice president of the No Kid Hungry campaign.

Lisa Davis testifying before Congress

Lisa Davis testifying before Congress

Baked into our collective national narrative is the concept that through hard work, grit and determination, anyone can “pull themselves up by their bootstraps” and succeed.

In reality, moving and staying out of poverty requires a system of supports and opportunities.

As I think about my own life, I am grateful for the many women who have shaped my life and unlocked opportunities, both those I know personally and those I have never met but who have fought battles and blazed pathways for all women in our courts, the halls of Congress and the state houses, businesses, and classrooms.

I am also grateful for the many women who have mentored and supported me throughout my life, sometimes believing in my more than I believed in myself. Most of all, I am thankful for the many strong women in my family, particularly my mom who raised me to believe I could accomplish anything.

Like many women of her generation, my mom got married young, forgoing college to start a family and stay home to raise her kids. When she got divorced just a few years later, she found herself with two small children and limited job skills and work experience.

The only jobs she could find were low-wage and with irregular hours.  Wanting more for her family, she went back to school to earn her nursing degree.

Caring for a 5 and 8-year-old while going to school full-time wasn’t easy.

Juggling raising us, managing her courses and working part-time was grueling. She worked incredibly hard and only slept a few hours each night. She also couldn’t do it alone. During those years my mom was in school, safety net programs like SNAP (then food stamps), free school meals, and housing assistance helped ensure that she could finish school without having to worry about whether we would have enough to eat or a safe place to live.

Without those programs, mom probably would not have been able to finish her degree despite her determination and hard work. Like far too many moms, she would have been trapped in a cycle of low-wage jobs, living on the edge of poverty and often falling under whenever an unexpected expense like a home or car repair or medical bill hit.

As we celebrate Women’s History Month, in addition to celebrating the many women who have shattered glass ceilings and carved a path forward, we need to continue to fight to ensure that opportunity is available for all women.  That requires investing in strengthening programs that help struggling families have enough to eat, safe places to live, education, health care and childcare.


Stay tuned for more stories from impressive women like Lisa Davis during Women History Month.

Read our first story from Youth Ambassador Libby Israel.