Carly's Story

In 2020, soon after the pandemic hit, Carly, one of our Roxbury customers, found herself laid off from her job and pregnant. “I had student loans, no job, and I was expecting. And I really wasn’t sure what I was going to do. But when I found Daily Table, I realized I could make my [SNAP] benefits last all month, and I could eat the way I needed to eat for the baby.”

Carly is now a caseworker at a non-profit in Roxbury that works with young people. She said, “Now I pay it forward. I have a job I love, helping young people, and I noticed a lot of them over the summer were coming in with nothing but a can of soda and a bag of chips for lunch. You can’t learn with that! They all thought eating healthy is expensive. So I told them about y’all and brought them to the store!” 

Carly’s clients were able to choose healthy, delicious prepared lunches. Carly laughs, “Where else can you get a full meal with stuff like salmon and fresh veggies for under $5?”

Carly lives in Mattapan with her now two and a half year-old son, Jovoni, and still stops at Daily Table several times a week. While she still loves the prepared foods, she mostly cooks at home these days with her fiance, Marcus. “Boston is such an expensive place to live. Even with both [Marcus and me] working, I don’t know if we’d be able to afford childcare and rent if it weren’t for Daily Table.”

Though Carly’s story is unique, tens of thousands of people also gain access to healthy food because of Daily Table, in neighborhoods that feel the effects of inflation the most.