“When I was growing up, we lived in an old trailer out on County Road 9,” Chad shared openly, speaking to everyone present.

“My father injured his back and could no longer drive his delivery route, so my mother grew a vegetable garden out of absolute necessity so we would have food to eat.”

Evelyn closed her eyes mournfully as her son spoke.

“Every summer afternoon, I was forced to pick beans in the boiling heat,” Chad continued emotional.

“I went to school with dark dirt under my fingernails that would not scrub out, and the kids at school mocked me relentlessly, calling me ‘Bean Boy’ because green beans were in every lunch I carried.

I swore to myself back then that I would work until I was wealthy, that I would never touch another bean, and that no one would ever look at me and see poverty.”