(Grace Ledgister)

It was well below freezing, and a vicious wind was blowing when I saw Grace Ledgister walking down the sidewalk, carrying a plastic shopping bag over her shoulder.

Grace was wearing slippers and a sweatshirt, hood pulled tight around her face. I asked her how she could stand the cold, and she said she had another sweatshirt under this one. I asked if she had a winter jacket and she said she’s “working on that” but she hasn’t had a way get to a store to buy one.

Grace is 53. The bag she was carrying was filled with groceries she was bringing to her brother from a convenience store a few blocks from his apartment. I could make out a quart of milk through the thin white plastic.

She said she hadn’t realized how cold it was when she decided to go out to the store. She helps her brother out with chores like this, though she seemed to be questioning why she does it.

“He’s got more strength than I do,” she said.

The two of them are both disabled. She has a disease that affects her neck and makes it hard to walk. She said she gets Medicaid, but it doesn’t cover all the medications she needs.

The money she gets from Social Security Disability isn’t much either—less than $700 a month, she said. She thinks it’s so low because the formula doesn’t place much weight on the jobs she did years back, putting together cards and kits for schools.

“I worked many years,” she said.

The money she gets isn’t enough for her own place, so she stays with a daughter who lives nearby and works as a dental hygienist. She seems to spend a lot of time with her brother too. When I asked if she has a phone she said she gives people his number.

“I just wish I had a place to call home,” she said.