Food Pantry Rules
A food pantry is what it is because of three things:
the economic situation at the moment
the volunteers
the people who shop there.
The people come together looking for groceries but often, they want and need far more.
While the coronavirus pandemic rages, the food pantry lines get longer every pantry day because people, families, deal with change they didn’t ask for.
In short, they are rewriting their destiny stories without a road map or instructions.
A number of the people in the pantry, both shoppers and volunteers, didn’t know about food pantries until circumstances set up a situation where they suddenly looked around a room and realized where they were.
There is a name for their category – SITUATIONAL POOR.
A person fits into the situational poor category when s/he lands in a situation created by an event such as a hurricane, fire, floor, pandemic, or other disaster which destroys the home, car, job.
Pantries offer much – peace, community, spiritual connection, groceries. I always think of a food pantry in the basement of a church as a cross between a church service and a busy pizza place.
A food pantry, and those connected with it, are not a program. They are a community. As volunteers, all we really do is open the door. As all the hungry people walk through the door, they undergo a change somehow.
Each person in a pantry, in whatever capacity, has experienced rejection in some way – too young, too old, too crazy, too sick, too poor, not poor enough.
The food pantry experience does not heal a person, nor does it change the story.
The food pantry experience does not offer therapy.
The food pantry is, instead, a conduit for each person’s own healing.
FOOD PANTRY RULES
Sign your name in the register as you enter the pantry.
Find a place in line.
Do not crowd or block the door to the pantry room.
No more than 2 shoppers are allowed in the pantry at one time.
No more than one new shopper is allowed in the pantry at one time.
Shop for a three-day supply of food for everyone in your household.
Place your selections on the table as you shop.
Respect the restrictions on certain foods.
Finish your shopping in 10 minutes.
Once you begin to bag your groceries, do not continue to shop.
Because the food availability is different each time you shop, it is best to visit the food pantry weekly.
Thank you.
Thurman Greco
P.S. The rules may be different at the pantry where you shop. Each food pantry is different. The space is different. The times the pantry is open is different. The management is different.
These specific rules were used in the food pantry I managed where the people were many, the space small, and the hours few.
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Winter Solstice Meditation – December 21, 2018
Find a quiet place where you can feel protected when you begin this Winter Solstice Meditation.
Calm yourself. Center yourself. Begin this Winter Solstice Meditation with a long, slow, breathing pattern as you breathe out negativity, problems, stress and breathe in peace, positive thoughts and beauty.
As you breathe in and breathe out for a few moments, you will become calmer and more grounded.
The Winter Solstice is a turning point of the year, a time of re-birth and a new beginning for all life on Planet Earth. This Winter Solstice turning point brings new energy.
May all life on Planet Earth use our new energy for peace.
May all life on Planet Earth use our new energy to know we are connected and to reclaim our awareness.
May all life on Planet Earth use our new energy to work together to deepen the understanding between every being and the natural world surrounding us.
May all life on Planet Earth use our new energy to foster mutual respect and work together focused on harmony.
May all life on Planet Earth be blessed with abundance and enough food.
May all life on Planet Earth be blessed with appropriate housing and be free from fear.
Sit quietly with this meditation and its energy for a few moments.
When you are ready to end this meditation, move your muscles gently as you return to your surroundings.
You may regain the energy of the re-birth of the Winter Solstice whenever you want.
Thank you for participating in this meditation.
Thurman Greco
Woodstock, New York
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Prayer for the Hungry – Number 3
I stand before you humbly, O Holy One, the One God of Israel as I offer a prayer for the hungry .
I offer thanksgiving, praises, blessings in this prayer for the hungry.
I ask for your forgiveness and mercy, O God. All life is in Your hands.
I come to you humbly, asking for protection – not for myself but for those hungry individuals and families who shop in food pantries everywhere. This hunger weaves the souls of these shoppers together for all time.
Grant them hope and strength to travel through their days courageously.
O Holy One, give them grace, mercy, harmony, peace.
Teach those of us working in pantries to have patience as we support the hungry in their struggle to carry on day after day after day against all odds.
Please let us remember that, through religious teaching everywhere, we know You feed all of us – not only physically but spiritually. Let this awareness give the hungry confidence that their needs are being met. Let this knowledge inspire us to make sure that everyone shopping at pantries everywhere receives the food and support necessary to carry on in the never relenting struggle. Remind us continually that we are doing Your work.
Help us choose the right words as we communicate with the hungry so that a chance remark won’t make things worse.
Make us always aware of the hungry who are homeless and suffering with mental illness. May you grant them complete healing – of body, mind, and spirit.
O God to Whom we all Pray, I offer you my most sincere gratitude for all you have don, are doing, and will do for those of us who suffer with hunger and homelessness.
And, now I say Amen.
