Don’t go Away. I need to talk to you.
“WE ALL KNOW ANGER. We also know how it kills our inner peace. And while most of us like the idea of forgiveness, it often seems a difficult thing to practice, especially when the source of our hurt is up close and personal.” – Mike George
“Don’t go away. I need to talk to you” the man aid in an authoritative voice as he walked toward me in the basement hallway of the Woodstock Reformed Church.
As I heard his voice, the hair on my neck began to stand up. I had just walked out of the pantry room for a moment. Stocking shelves in the pantry, I was preparing for the hungry who would be shopping soon. I’d been putting USDA canned green beans on the third shelf down from the top of a unit by a window.
“GOOD AFTERNOON, SIR. What can I do for you?”
“Well, for starters you can stop feeding all those people. Ever since you started working here, more and more people are standing in our halls. You’re feeding the unworthy hungry and I want it to stop. Right. Now.” he said with emphasis.
The man standing over me in the hall was fat, old, angry. His toes pointed outward…a sure sign to me he suffered from a backache. “I’m Ed Jabbs. I’m head of the building committee for this church and I want to see your files on the people who use this pantry.”
“I’m sorry sir. We don’t keep many files on our shoppers. We keep a journal where we record their names and number of people in each household. That’s all.”
WE’RE A PANTRY, NOT THE POLICE, I THOUGHT TO MYSELF.
“Well, you should. No one should be allowed in the pantry who isn’t on food stamps. You’re feeding people who shouldn’t be coming here to get this food. You’re feeding the unworthy hungry.”
“Just last week you gave food to a man who I know shouldn’t be fed. He’s a writer. He published a book a couple of years ago and he shouldn’t even be here. Writers make a lot of money. ”
I’d heard about Ed Jabbs. He was a story in Woodstock. He was head of the building committee, was not a pantry supporter, and was definitely not a Thurman Greco supporter. After all, I reported to the Food Bank, not him. “This man is definitely a threat to the pantry” was the thought going through my mind as he stood over me.
Forever a mystery, I had heard gossip: Some church members were afraid of him. He had once belonged to a church in Saugerties but left after some event when a few members there had had enough. He was reputed to drive an expensive car with Delaware plates, and lived in Saugerties.
Not a secret: He very definitely did not like the way the pantry in the church was being managed now.
And, he had grounds. Before 2008, the pantry served about 25 colorful characters on Thursday mornings and now with the economy in the tank, new hungry people showed up every week. Lines were getting longer and longer.
The Hunger Prevention Nutrition Assistance Program changed our nutritional guidelines to include fresh produce, 1% milk, and whole grain breads. Before the guidelines changed, shoppers got a jar of peanut butter, a box of cereal, a can of tuna fish and maybe a can of soup. Now, they received a 3-day-supply of food for everyone in the household. Fresh produce lined the walls of the pantry. Bread Alone sent over bread weekly and pet food was even available.
These changes brought not only hungry people but mountains of cardboard and, according to some church people, vermin. Some felt we were being overrun with vermin. No amount of reasoning convinced them of anything different. It didn’t matter one whit that there was not even one bug or mouse to be found in the pantry.
Meanwhile, here was this angry man staring at me and demanding to see files the State didn’t even require.
“Well, Mr. Jabbs, I can call the Food Bank and find out what files we need. However, the inspector was here only a few weeks ago, looked at all my paperwork and pronounced everything “excellent”. We’ve never done anything like this before. After all, we’re a food pantry…not the police.”
“Check into it NOW”! he said as he turned away, his toes still pointing outward. Mr. Jabbs turned and smiled at me then, displaying a mouthful of large yellow teeth.
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Peace and food for all.
Thurman Greco
