Reply #20: I remember carrying PB&J sandwiches to school in a brown bag

[Elwood P Dowd]

back in the 50s. In high school during the 60s, they would let you do the same thing if you couldn't afford a lunch token.

When I was playing high school football, we had this kid who came from a family even poorer than mine. Three hours before each game, we would have steaks. Before our first game in 1963, this kid ate his first steak. He was 15 years-old.

I met a kid in Army basic training (1970) who sent half of his $100.00 monthly pay back to his parents. They needed the money to pay for coal to heat their shack. This kid ended up loving the Army because, as he told me, it was the first time in his life that he had three good meals a day and enough money to buy shaving cream.