Tennessee Police Rescue Woman, 78, Surviving Off One Jar Of Peanut Butter

Tennessee police rescued an elderly woman from possibly starving to death after learning she was living on nothing but one jar of peanut butter.

Knoxville police learned of the 78-year-old woman's situation after she called asking for food, WATE reported. The woman seemed "confused or distressed," police said.

Officers arrived at the woman's home in North Knoxville and searched her kitchen.

"The only food she had in her entire house was a half-eaten jar of peanut butter," Knoxville Police Department spokesman Darrell DeBusk told WATE.

The woman told police she had been rationing the peanut butter since Feb. 16. She said she waited this long to ask for help because she didn't want to be a burden and didn't know where to turn.

Police sprang into action, buying her groceries from a nearby market and bringing her a hot meal from the Knoxville Area Rescue Mission.

The officers also signed her up at the mission so she can receive ready-to-eat meals.

"We feed people everyday at KARM. We do up to 1,000 meals, adding one more meal and helping out a neighbor in need was not even a second thought to pack up something to get her through this time," the mission told the station.

Local senior activist groups are also working to assign someone to make sure she never goes hungry again.

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Tennessee, Elderly woman, Knoxville