So I have gotten myself into a little bit of a state these past couple of days because I read this article about our local food pantry. I must say I feel a little overwhelmed with sadness and frustration and a modicum of angsty rage that this food pantry -- which for many people in our neck of the woods has been the only resource standing between their family and a kitchen filled with nothing -- has been forced to temporarily close its doors.
In our family the ACTS Food Pantry holds a special place because we have been participating in food drives to support it for over twenty years. The sunny girl and the girl in charge have both helped sort food during the food pantry's annual Operation Turkey drive in November. And the tall boy organized a neighborhood food drive for this food pantry as his Eagle Project. To prepare for the food drive he spent quite a few hours at the pantry, shelving food, helping to organize donations, and talking to the pantry director about his goals and dreams for the food pantry.
Of course for all of us, the dream is clearly that we can live in a community where an emergency food pantry is no longer necessary. But until that day arrives, the Food Pantries, Community Kitchens, Bread For the City drives and SOME (So Others May Eat) programs are nothing more or less than a rope that we can throw to our drowning neighbors.We all MUST support these programs.
Please. My friends. Go to your community's food pantry right now. Yes, now. Get up, go to your cupboard. Grab that can of beans, that Top Ramen, that peanut butter, those pasta noodles. Get in your car right now and go to your food pantry. They need it so very badly -- they won't even care that you are still wearing your pajamas and bunny slippers.My mother would tell you you are earning stars for your crown in heaven.
Thank you so much.
I volunteered to help sort food from a food drive for a new food pantry last year. It was overwhelming. People donated. But they donated a bunch of crap that they didn't want: One can had an expiration date of 1994. Instant coffee that was hard as a rock. Weird flavored stuff. Cereal boxes that had been opened and half eaten. Things that clearly came in gift baskets that no one wants. It was ridiculous how much stuff we had to throw away. Made me appreciate a well-stocked food pantry, because I now know how much effort it takes to get it that way.
ReplyDeleteI try to give the Food Bank peanut butter, cereal, and toilet paper. Because that's what my kids use the most of, and those items are kind of expensive. My husband gets a little testy when I donate the same snobby brand of toilet paper that he insists on for himself. But I say that people who are clients of the food bank could use a little softness.
ReplyDeleteFor those keeping score: I read this; I even clicked through a couple of ads! --mjh
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