Your article in the Dec. 21 issue about seniors struggling to make ends meet, takes me back to the UK in the 1940s when the people were forced to “make do and mend.”
We were rationed by food books holding dated coupons, to allow one egg, two ounces of sugar, four ounces of meat, and a loaf of bread per family member, weekly. Each coupon was clipped by the server of food to prevent hungry mouths from trying to use the rationed coupon again.
During these years our government of the time encouraged the people to grow vegetables in their gardens as little was to be seen in our shops. Many families bred rabbits to eke out the weekly meat rations to make soups and stews.
Lineups at the local greengrocer for fruit, urged waiting customers not only to be patient but hope there would be an old orange or a crinkled apple left on the shelf when it was their turn to be served.
Somehow, the people managed and did their best during these hard times, albeit, with coke and coal rationed to light fires at home and keep warm, with little food in our stomachs, was another challenge to survive the bitterly cold winters of the 1940s.
When people struggled in a crisis of economics with the tenacity to survive, it was reason to sell our clothing coupons to buy clothes at five shillings each so we could purchase black market food at high prices.
At this time with the elderly, disabled, and those living alone, it is to be hoped all governments of the day will come forth to help those in dire need.
Caroline E. Whitehead
Sidney
