Food Pantry Blog: Leaving the Past Behind – Thurman
In addition to working in the pantry, I was an active democrat and belonged to the Woodstock Democratic Committee. Later I joined the board of Hunger Action Network of New York State (HANNYS).
One afternoon, I interviewed Joel Tyner, a popular political candidate, on Channel 23, our local public access TV station. I was a guest interviewer along with Jeff Moran, Paula Gloria, Randy and Felicia Steel, and a few other local TV celebrities.
Personally, I was flattered that others in the public access TV community felt my skills were good enough to be a guest interviewer.
As it turned out, the interview was not well received by our pantry board’s treasurer, Jim Dougherty. And, to make a point, Jim sent out a letter to many area people about this and resigned. There were several other issues, of course, but the main problem was this interview and the fact that I kept voter registration forms available in the pantry hallway.
He argued that I was threatening the safety of our board and its 501(c)3 designation. Well, Jim was correct that I was threatening the safety of our board designation. He was just incorrect about the details.
Interviewing Joel Tyner, Terrie Rosenblum, his friend Mike Lourenso, Cathy Magarelli, Bill McKnight, Ralph Goneau, Jeff Moran, Jackie Earley, Bill McKenna, Rennie Cantine, or anyone else for that matter, was no threat to the designation. Public access television programs are considered to be public information, nothing more.
Neither was having voter registration forms available in the pantry hallway a political event. In this, Jim simply had not taken the time to distinguish the difference between civic activities and political activities. After all, everyone who applies for a New York State Drivers License is offered the opportunity to register to vote.
If he had looked a bit closer, he would’ve realized that by being a member of the Woodstock Democratic Committee, I was in violation of the political activity section of our designation. As a member of the WDC, I supported and opposed candidates in political campaigns. When I realized this activity was not approved for board members of non-profits, I resigned from the WDC. It took about 2 years before I realized this. Too bad for Jim. If he had been more accurate, I would have resigned a lot sooner.
The truth was there always. I just needed to open my eyes to see the reality.
For me, it was the WDC. For others, it was giving up anger, or drugs, or a whole lifestyle that changed when the house was foreclosed upon, for example.
Thank you for reading this blog/book.
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Peace and food for all.
Thurman Greco
Leaving the Past Behind…so we can Heal
“Nothing goes away until it has taught us what we need to know.”
– Pema Chodon
All of us, whether we come to the pantry as shoppers or volunteers, or both, are asked by the pantry to leave our past behind. And, of course, that’s different for everyone. But, think about it, how can we move forward into our new lives if we never give anything up?
For some, giving up the past means letting go of the job that was lost, the home, maybe the family, self-esteem, the car, good health, money, insurance, etc.
As we release our past, our baggage weighs less and less. Our prejudices become fewer and fewer. Our fears are often diminished.
Then…we can heal.
Everyone coming to the pantry heals on some level. The community offered by the pantry gives support and approval to people as they climb back on the road to wellness and something offering normalcy.
In many instances, the shoppers become the volunteers or…the volunteers become the shoppers.
The shoppers come to get food and then find out they can volunteer. Volunteering changes them. As a person gives out food, the volunteer makes contact with another person, and is able to smile. The person is drawn out of his/her own problems. In offering a sense of community, the volunteer receives so much more.
Some of these things are very physical, some emotional, and some mental. But, whether the “giving up” experiences are physical, mental, emotional, one thing is certain. All of these experiences have a spiritual aspect.
One of my “giving up” experiences was also very public.
In tomorrow’s post, we’ll continue with the stories of volunteers illustrating the “leaving the past behind” concept.
Please share this post on your favorite social network.
Thank you for reading this blog/book.
Peace and food for all.
Thurman Greco
Food Pantry Blog: The Silver Tongued Devil of the Food Pantry
Bob Otto came to volunteering through the back door. He worked as the sexton of the Woodstock Reformed Church, a job he took very seriously. It was, however, a parttime position and he volunteered at the pantry when he wasn’t working in the building.
Bob unloaded food when we had deliveries.
Bob worked to keep the line together in the hallway.
Bob distributed frozen food in the barn.
Bob raised funds for the pantry one summer at the entrance of the Mower’s Meadow Flea Market. He stood there every Saturday and Sunday selling raffle tickets. Singlehandedly, Box raised over $3,000.
Bob worked at our monthly food drives at the Sunflower Natural Foods Market. He stood at the entrance of the Sunflower with a large milk pitcher and asked everyone who came to the door to make a donation. The people loved it. They walked right up to him with their wallets and purses open.
As volunteers we all had our jobs cut out for us. We called Bob our “Silver Tongued Devil.”
Beyond the work we gave, the pantry encouraged us to leave the past behind. Events in the pantry seemed to demand that we interact closely with people we didn’t even know. Further, the pantry activities orchestrated healing on some level. Then, as this happened, this transformation resulted in a new person.
And, for Bob, this was very real. One day we heard an announcement. The building committee members were unhappy with his performance. Nobody ever determined whether he quit or was dismissed. But what we did determine, however, was that his participation in food pantry activities was smack dab in the middle of the event.
Thank you for reading this blog/book.
Please share this post, the story of Bob, on your preferred social network.
Thank you.
Peace and food for all.
Thurman Greco
Woodstock, NY
Food Pantry Blog: Tuesdays with the Anderson Center Crew
Tuesday mornings were very special in the pantry. That was when we stocked the shelves for the coming week and also prepared the take out packages for the homebound shoppers.
The Anderson Center for Autism has Community Integration Outings which they operate out of their Lifelong Learning Center in Saugerties. Every Tuesday morning at 10:00 a.m. sharp Nathan drove a large green van with Gary, Jai, Marcos, Mattie, Jonah, Robert, and Isaac to the pantry. They came to stock our shelves with as much food as humanly possible. These young men were always enthusiastic about stocking the shelves, breaking down the boxes, and hauling the food out of the storeroom. They took to their jobs like ducks on a junebug. They finished up what Leticia was unable to complete in the hour from 9:00 to 10:00.
Their job began with Jai bringing out case after case of food from the storeroom.
“What food does the pantry need today Thurman?”
“Jai, let’s start with 10 cases of jelly, 10 cases of peanut butter, all the cases of cereal you can find, and 15 cases of beans.”
After Jai got the cases of food into the pantry, the guys stocked the shelves under Nathan’s direction. Nathan enthusiastically offered individual supervision to each team member.
Marcos and Mattie tore down boxes in the yard outside the pantry. Tony Cannistra always helped with this project. They loaded all the cardboard into Vanessa, the Grand Caravan, to be carried to the dump. Vanessa was always totally packed with flattened boxes at the end of the job on Tuesday mornings.
Everyone worked as quickly as possible. Our job had to be completed by noon because we were required to vacate the building then. At noon the take out volunteers were allowed to pack the canned goods for next week’s bags.
As soon as the shelves were totally stuffed with canned and boxed goods and as soon as all the boxes were broken down, Nathan drove the van around to the building and loaded up a half dozen or so take out bags in the back of the vehicle. Then, off the Anderson crew would go to deliver food to homebound households.
Thank you for reading this post.
Peace and food for all.
Thurman Greco
Woodstock, NY
No Box Was Too Large. No Line Was Too Long.
Our 99-pound wonder, Leticia, seemed to the casual observer to not be a candidate for heavy lifting. However, she always arrived on Tuesday mornings promptly at 9:00 ready for action.
Leticia knew how to stock a pantry, that’s for sure. She would look around the empty pantry room, figure out what was needed on the shelves and proceed to go back to the storeroom and get it. No case was too heavy. No box was too large. Leticia was a tiny Latina whirlwind who gave energy to all of us. She also had a technique for stacking things on their sides so we could get more food on the shelves. The pantry was so small and the hours available to us were so few that we had to be able to get enough of an item on a shelf to last the two days the pantry was open. Leticia worked frantically in the pantry every Tuesday morning stocking as many of the shelves as possible in preparation for the Anderson guys.
When Leticia finished packing a shelf, we couldn’t even get a paperclip in the extra space. Go Leticia!
Thanks for reading this post. Tomorrow you’ll get to know Bad Back Bob.
Peace and food for all.
Thurman Greco
Woodstock
Robyn
Robin gracefully sat in front of the closet and helped the shoppers choose a couple of items. Robyn lived in Mt. Tremper. Her living situation seemed to be somewhat precarious because every few months she would be looking for a new place to live. I think she lived in her car a couple of times.
During shopping lulls, Robyn addressed envelope after envelope after envelope for the fundraising letters we sent out several times each year. So, really, Robyn worked 2 jobs in the hallway: Items of Dignity and fundraising.
One afternoon Robyn came to my home. “Phoebe died yesterday Thurman. I need a place to bury her”. We found a quiet place in my garden under a Japanese Willow tree. She and Barry dug a grave and placed Phoebe, her beloved cat, wrapped in a rug, in the freshly dug hole. After all the earth had been placed over Phoebe, Barry emptied a large bag of mulch over the grave and I offered a prayer.
The next morning, as I walked by the area, I saw that Robyn had placed a cross as a headstone. There was also a little bouquet of fresh flowers for Phoebe placed on the grave.
Thanks for reading this post.
Peace and food for all.
Thurman Greco
Woodstock, NY
For The Most Part, Everyone Working In A Pantry Needs Healing on Some Level
“Pantries offer companionship, exercise, meaning, and purpose.”
Janet Poppendieck
No one just wakes up one day and says “I think I’ll go down to the local food pantry and volunteer”. People spending time in pantries, either as volunteers or shoppers, travel down a path toward a pantry. For the most part, the people need healing on some level.
Some needed physical healing. Volunteers occasionally came to the pantry so ill they were barely able to make it into the building. When this happened, I had a specific job for them. They were stationed at the Items of Dignity Table offering toilet paper, shampoo, razors, etc. Shoppers were allowed to take one roll of toilet paper and one other item.
For several months we had a volunteer who was excellent with the shoppers. Each week, Diane slowly walked the 2 blocks to the pantry and then worked in the hallway a couple of hours until she got enough energy to return home. “Don’t forget your roll of toilet paper, Judith. We’ve got some hand cream today. Can you use that or would you prefer tooth paste?”
When she finally couldn’t work in the hallway anymore, we had no one for the station. So, I relied on Robyn to help.
Thank you for reading this post.
Our next post will focus on Robyn and the many tasks she performed.
Peace and food for all.
Thurman Greco
Family of Woodstock Comes to the Pantry’s Rescue Two Years in a Row
Family of Woodstock was a real lifesaver for our pantry those first two Decembers I was the coordinator. The first year word spread that our shelves were empty. I got a call from Tamara Cooper.
“Thurman, can you come over here immediately? We just got a donation of food from someone and we have no place to put it. If you come over right now, you can have it all.”
Can I come over immediately? WOW I was there! It was glorious! I stuffed my car with grocery bags filled with canned and boxed goods of every kind. Thank you Tamara Cooper.
In October of the following year, I saw Michael Berg at a meeting at Mohonk Mountain House. I went over to him, introduced myself, and told him that Decembers were grim in our pantry. In December I got another call from Family. This time we were given a large number of Hannaford’s holiday gift boxes filled with pasta, tomato sauce, tuna fish, chicken noodle soup, etc. Thank you Michael Berg. Thank you to everyone at Family of Woodstock. Thank you to Hannaford’s. And, thank you to everyone who buys a gift box of food for the hungry at Hannaford’s.
By 2010, I was ready for August and December. I finagled a storeroom out of the building committee of the Woodstock Reformed Church. I even got permission for a refrigerator to go in it. The storeroom effort was a total scene – especially the refrigerator. I got permission from the pastor’s secretary who gave me the go ahead because everyone was out of the building.
Looking back at the whole event, I realize that Divine Guidance removed everyone from the building that morning. If anyone had been there the pantry would never have gotten even the storeroom…much less the refrigerator. Thank you God.
Except for the stress that my presence in this space (which was severe) caused the building committee and church members, the storeroom was a wonderful addition to the pantry. We were now able to order food for advance needs during lean months and the refrigerator, even though small, stored eggs.
The storeroom made all the difference. As my grandmother would have said “We were cooking with gas over at the Good Neighbor Food Pantry”.
Thank you for reading this blog post.
Peace and food for all.
Thurman Greco
Woodstock
Grocers, & Manufacturers Can Get By With A Lot Fewer Dumpsters If They Donate The Food And Let The Food Bank Truck Come By And Pick It Up.
All these donations going to food pantries, shelters, etc., are a real two-way street. Donating food is a break-even proposition for manufacturers.
To my way of thinking, it’s more advantageous for a farmer, grocer, or food manufacturer to donate the food to a Food Bank. All the food coming into the Food Bank has been diverted from a landfll. One advantage (or disadvantage, depending on how you look at it) to donating the food is that there are fewer dumpsters for people to dive in.
Some months I’d be lucky and get maybe 80% of what I needed. Other months I would get next to nothing that I needed. When that happened, I thought ahead and got what was available. Hands down, the most challenging month to get food was August because the food drives and food donations are seasonal. I finally decided that food donations are down in the late summer because nobody thinks of Food Banks and Pantries when they’re on vacation. One August, I bought 25 cases of water because I could get them and everything else was either scarce or nonexistent. That water came in very handy after Hurricane Sandy visited.
The Food Banks send out refrigerated trucks to pick up the excess. They get it to the warehouse where volunteers sort it and make it available to agencies as quickly as possible. The goal is to feed the hungry with the excess.
The second most challenging month is December. The first two Decembers I was the coordinator were dismal in the pantry because I hadn’t yet learned how to stockpile the food in advance. I was unprepared for this because, for one thing, I didn’t even have a storeroom to put the food in.
When the months were lean at the pantry, I made extra trips to Latham and returned with fresh produce. Fresh fruits and vegetables covered “a lot of ills” in the pantry because the shoppers didn’t have the money to buy fresh foods and they were always hungry for something fresh.
Thanks so much for reading about the food pantry.
Peace and food for all.
Thurman Greco
Woodstock, NY
Mike and Mike and the Air Conditioner
The pantry made demands on all of us. For one thing, there were guidelines, rules, boundaries, and no-nos, handed down by not only health codes, the Food Bank guidelines, HPNAP guidelines, but the building rules.
The building committee had strict rules about what hours we could be in the building, where the cardboard could go, when and where we could use what portion of the parking lot, where the people could stand in the overcrowded hallway, what food could or could not be stored where, when the produce and bread could come in the building, how many chairs could be placed in the hallway, etc.
I was in the pantry arranging the produce on the shelves one summer evening in the month before the building committee limited our hours in the building so severely.
The night was warm for Woodstock and I put a box fan on the sill in each of the 3 windows to keep the air moving in the pantry in an effort to retard the rotting of the produce, the lettuce, tomatoes, greens, and herbs.
Mike Cooter stomped in the room with a serious scowl on his face. His body posture shouted “anger”. Cooter was a member of the building committee and everyone connected with the pantry and the church knew that the building committee assumed total control over every detail of what happened in the building.
“Get these fans out of the windows.” he said.
“I’m trying to keep some of the produce from rotting so we’ll have fresh food for the shoppers tomorrow” I replied. “We lost 50% of our produce last week. We need the fans to keep the food cool.”
“Get the fans out of the windows NOW” he yelled. Cooter had gone from disapproving to threatening.
And I was scared.
Luckily for me, Mike Lourenso was standing in the shadows. He stepped out into the light.
“Back off Cooter” Mike said with an air of authority. “I was a Brooklyn cop for 23 years. Calm down now or I’ll take you down.” I wasn’t sure what “I’ll take you down” meant but I really liked the sound of those words.
Cooter took a deep breath and backed out of the small room. He took another couple of deep breaths and appeared to be accepting what he had just heard from Mike Lourenso.
Cooter returned to the room. “We need to fix this problem now Cooter. She’s driving 90 miles round trip every week for a truckload of produce and then losing half of it here in this room because of the heat.
Can we have an air conditioner?”
Cooter appeared to be thinking about – and considering – the request.
“Okay” said finally. He appeared to have reluctantly come to terms with the situation.
“Get those fans out of here now and get an air conditioner in a window now. Put it in that window” he said as he pointed to a specific window.
“Now? It’s after 9:30.”
“Yeah. NOW.”
“Okay, I’ve got one in my home. I’ll go get it and we’ll put it in tonight.”
And he did. He drove to his home, took a window unit out of a bedroom, and returned to the pantry with the unit and an electric drill. Together, we installed it at 10:30 that same night.
I, for one, was grateful for many things that night.
First, I was grateful for a volunteer who knew how to be a cop.
Second, I was grateful we could get our hands on an air conditioner fast – before Cooter changed his mind.
Third, I was really grateful that we were going to be able to have a better quality of fresh food to serve to our shoppers.
Peace and food for all.
Thurman Greco
Woodstock
