20 Cents to Live On

Before the COVID- 19 pandemic hit, Grandma Navarad (na-VAR-ad) earned money selling prepared food near her home in Bangkok.  But then the park where sold food shut down  and so did her business.

“It’s been devastating!” Grandma told The 700 Club. “When the government closed the park, people stopped buying. I lost all of my customers.” 

As a widow Grandma Navarad has been raising her 7-year-old grandson alone. Vaikul (vye-COOL) liked to help his Grandma prepare and sell food.  In a COVID world, she taught her grandson how to wash his hands thoroughly and they wore masks.  They moved their business to the front of their house but there still weren’t enough customers.

“We only made 2 dollars a day. People weren’t leaving their homes.  I was afraid of catching the virus too. So I stopped selling,” she said.

Soon, Grandma was down to her last 20 cents. She got emotional as she told us what happened next. 

“My grandson told me he was VERY hungry. All I could buy with 20 cents was one egg!  I felt like I wanted to die. But I was more concerned about my grandson than myself. If I died, I wondered what would happen to him? No one else would look after him. I had to be strong so that he would not starve!”

Then Operation Blessing came to Grandma’s community with food packs filled with rice, noodles, cooking oil, canned fish and milk. We also gave them soap, hand sanitizer, masks and first aid kits.  

My grandson have enough food for several weeks! God has not abandoned us,” she said with tears in her eyes. “I thank everyone who supports Operation Blessing. Thank you for all that you’ve given to us. You have won my heart!”