Shirley Jones Sims of Waco, a veteran of the 1960s War on Poverty, keeps an unusual souvenir of the struggle to keep her head above water in hard times — a can of pork meat.

The rusting but structurally sound can, which she believes is approaching 40 years of age, was acquired around 1970 from a federal commodities distribution program. At the time, as a jobless single mother on welfare with two young daughters to feed, she was happy to have it.

“I was getting a check for $122 each month,” the 60-year-old Sims said, a sum close to $683 in today’s dollars.

“Out of that I had to pay the rent ($95) and feed us all. Of course, a loaf of bread was 20 cents, and gasoline was 70 cents per gallon.”

She recalled that the federal foodstuffs that helped feed her family included the canned pork meat, cheese, macaroni, powdered eggs, powdered milk, beans and prunes.

When it wasn’t used immediately, this particular can of pork meat was shoved farther and farther back into the cupboards. It was forgotten for many years, but in recent months was rediscovered.

“Wherever I would move, I would carry this can of meat with me. I never would open it, just kept it,” she said.

It became emblematic of how far she’d come in the world, a sign that she’d never be hungry again as long as that can was around for “insurance.”

Her kids and their children tease her about the relic. But it is priceless to her now, she said.

“Now, it has too many memories for me to ever get rid of it,” Sims said.

The federal commodities program began in the Great Depression as a way to help debt-ridden farmers by shoring up falling crop prices. But in 1961, with his first executive order, President John F. Kennedy mandated that the U.S. Department of Agriculture increase the quantity and variety of foods donated for needy households.

Sims, a lifelong Waco resident, was born in September 1947, the 15th of the 16 children born to Marzella Carrington (1908-2001), a maid and housekeeper.

Shirley Jones married Louis Sims Sr. on April 25, 1973. He was a Vietnam veteran who served in the Marine Corps from 1963 through 1967 and earned a Purple Heart. They met through their jobs at Plantation Foods (which was purchased by Cargill in 1998).

“I was tired of being on welfare and getting food stamps,” she recalled. “I prayed that the Lord would send me a good man for a husband.”

Shirley Sims worked for the food company for 33 years, before retiring in 2004 to care for her ailing husband, now 66. She works as a home health care aide three mornings per week, and on the side works as a commercial artist, interior decorator and fashion designer.

“I hope my story of this can will help someone, either by remembering the blessings in their lives or even just making them laugh,” she said. “Either way, that would lift your spirits.”

tjryan@wacotrib.com

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