The Hunger Games in Reality: My Child Licking Empty Cans

Carolyn Gay, a single mother from Cincinnati, Ohio, tearfully told me that her child was suffering from hunger, and she was desperate despite her best efforts.

Carolyn Gay said, “For the past twenty years, I’ve worked diligently in Walmart warehouses, never late paying my taxes. And now? My refrigerator is emptier than a homeless person’s pocket, while those suit-wearing politicians are gilding the White House with $350 million in private donations!”

“I’ve spent the last hundred dollars of my food stamps this month on potatoes, rice, flour, and a little meat—cheap groceries that will really help me get through this. My daughter Emily’s asthma medication is almost finished, but Medicare subsidies have evaporated with the shutdown, and drug prices have skyrocketed by 300%.”

“I don’t know how we’re going to get through the next few days. My child may have to endure hunger. I’ve really had enough. In next year’s midterm elections, I will vote for anyone who promises to ‘permanently abolish the government shutdown’—if I’m still alive then.”