Hunger Is Not a Disease

Good Neighbor Food Pantry and Woodstock Library Close

 

“Woodstock is completely packed with Coronavirus refugees from Brooklyn.  We’re doing more business here in the post office than we have every done.  This post office is busier than any Christmas rush has ever been.”

What a day!

I got a call from someone earlier today.  “The food pantry is closed, Thurman. How can this happen?”  As I went by the Woodstock Library, I saw a sign:  “Closed”

The Coronavirus affects us all.  We cannot avoid the reality.  People jokingly call our community Brooklyn North.

As long as you have a car and money and an apartment and a cell phone and a  computer, all you have to worry about is the spread of germs.  But, that’s not how it is with everyone.  Without a car and money and an apartment and a computer and a call phone, your life tells a different story.

Without those luxuries, your lifeline requires a food pantry and a library.

The library is essential because it’s your ticket to information about  food, housing, and anything else you need to find.  A library will help you find everything you need to survive.  And, while it’s giving you information, a library roof keeps you dry.  The walls of the library keep you warm and comfortable while you seek all that you need.

And, of course, the library has one other luxury people don’t talk about much: a bathroom.   If you are without food and a roof and a computer and a cell phone, a bathroom is essential.

So, while the Woodstock Reformed Church has closed its doors, most of the food pantries in New York state are figuring out how to get food to people.  They are receiving support from the Food Bank.

In fact, the Food Bank of the Hudson Valley reports that volunteers are responding to every emergency request received.  This includes food deliveries to seniors, quarantined and high-risk individuals, school back pack programs.

If you can get to a phone, there are a couple of phone numbers you can call.  Try 845-399-0376 or 845-633-2120.

Sources tell me that many  food pantries and soup kitchens are not closed.  I truly hope you can find one.

So, what can we do?  Well, for starters, try to contact people you know but seldom see and find out how they are doing.  Do they need anything?  Is there anything you  can do?

Contact food pantries and soup kitchens in your area and see if they need anything.  My bet is that they do.  My bet is they need food.

Times are serious.  Your help is needed!

If you run out of ideas, contact me at thurmangreco@gmail and I’ll send you, free of charge, my three action guides with practical tips for fighting hunger and homelessness.

Thank you for reading this article.  Please refer it to your preferred social media network.

Thanks again!

Thurman Greco

Hungry and Homeless Now

 

The food pantry is closed for business and  will not open today.

Where will the hungry and homeless go now?

It’s Wednesday, the pantry day in Woodstock.  Weekly, the food pantry attracts several hundred hungry and homeless people to the basement of a local church where they experience community, gratitude, healing, and a three-day-supply of shared food.  The isolation often felt by hungry and homeless people is softened in the pantry.  One thing the soul longs for is connection.

As people travel down their life path to the pantry, they lose things.  One of the most soul-strangling downsides of this new-found simplicity is isolation experienced as people become cut off from their community.  This experiences always changes reality.

When people no longer fit in, their voices become smaller and smaller and smaller until, finally, all is silent.

The rule is this:  As the community for the hungry and homeless diminishes, so diminishes the support system.

All things are connected and intertwined but we have a difficult time remembering this when we are in our most alone circumstances in life.  With assistance, we begin to recall our spiritual connections and know we are not along, not forgotten.

But, with the Coronavirus, this is very challenging.  A few things are in play here.

First, for those needing to shelter in place, the main question is this:   ” Where will I go?”  Sofa surfing won’t happen anymore.  The cemetery will work as long as it doesn’t snow or rain.

Second, a person without food can think of nothing else:  “Where can I get food?”

For the hungry and homeless person in Woodstock, that focus is real because the food pantry closed.

At a time when the people need this food the most, the pantry is closed.

“Where can I get food?”

Thank you for reading this blog post!

Please refer it to your preferred social  media network.

Thurman Greco

Woodstock, New York