Growing up in Coweta County, Loretta Jenkins didn’t have a lot of dreams for herself except to survive.
A ketchup sandwich was often dinner, and a banana sandwich was a special treat. Sometimes, there was no food at all.
“At night we couldn’t wait to get to school because we know we’d get food,” she recalled.
She and her brother went door to door, asking people if they could rake yards for money.
Some people would scowl and slam the door in the kids’ faces.
“We’d just drop our heads and go on to the next house,” she said.
Even so, her mother never turned a child away from her door who needed safe haven. Loretta vowed she would never watch children go hungry or in need.
Today, that includes her children's children. Like 100,000 grandparents in Georgia, 52-year-old Loretta is raising grandchildren, and every day is a challenge.
Read the rest of Loretta Jenkins' story in this week's Personal Journey, Grandmother of the year.
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