A 98-year-old Norwalk resident who lived through the Great Depression says through faith and perseverance the present economic crisis can be overcome.

Bennie Dell McClendon says she remembers the Great Depression and the hard times everyone faced, as people lost jobs and what little money they had.

"Everybody had a tough time, same as now," she says. "You don't know from day to day what it's going to be like tomorrow."

McClendon says during the depression she worked as a housekeeper and caterer, jobs that had some security. She remembers bread lines forming immediately after banks began to collapse, and other programs to help the needy.

McClendon, who was 19 years old when the stock market crashed in 1929, says one of the major differences between then and now is that while prices on goods went up during the Great Depression, they did not skyrocket like they are now.