She helps families in need. As gas and grocery prices rise, she needs help, too

Dalene Basden volunteers at a local soup kitchen after her day job helping families who have children with special needs. Now, with gas and grocery prices rising, she's finding it hard to make ends meet herself. Tovia Smith/NPR hide caption toggle caption Tovia Smith/NPR Dalene Basden has the kind of job where she's never really off the clock. She works supporting families with special needs children in Lynn, Massachusetts, a mostly working-class and low-income city north of Boston. For Basden, that means lots of hours in lots of places. "I meet my families where they're at," she says. "I might be over at the playground. I might be at the school, or at the grocery store" teaching them how to compare prices and find deals. And several nights a week, she comes to a soup kitchen called My Brother's Table, where many of her clients are regulars. One recent evening, she's bouncing around the dining room, checking in with one young man to see if he filled out that job application they talked about. Then she turns to another who didn't show up for his volunteer shift unloading the bread truck that day. A conversation about commitment ensues. In between, Basden helps out in the kitchen, or fills plates on the serving line. "This is such a joy. I love my work," Basden says. …