Bad Back Bob
Bad Back Bob was a shopper/volunteer always available to help. A veteran with disabilities, he suffered from nightmares, serious spinal issues, an occasional seizure, PTSD, migraines, etc. He often came early to the pantry on Wednesday to help unload the food. We all felt that he shouldn’t do this lifting because of the back issues but he really wanted to feel like he was helping in some way.
“Leave my back to me Thurman. I’m here to help. I just want to be a part of this pantry.”
At one point, because of the seizures, Bob was unable to drive to the pantry so he got a ride or hitch hiked over from Motel 19 to help.
Bob rode with us to Latham to the Food Bank whenever we asked.
Bob worked in the garage distributing meat whenever we asked.
Bob helped break down hundreds of boxes on Wednesdays whenever we asked.
Bob helped get the food in the pantry on Tuesday mornings whenever we asked.
Bob worked in the pantry during the monthly food delivery whenever we asked.
In short, Bob did everything he could to help keep the pantry going, whenever we asked.
When Bob finally returned to Model 19 after a shift, he would cook up the food that he shopped for and share it with other residents who couldn’t make it to the pantry that day.
It’s important to note here that Veterans have special needs. They return home from wars with illnesses, injuries, and they need housing, employment, counseling, health care. They and their families have many adjustments to make as they get to know one another again after the vet has been in this terrible struggle in Afghanistan and Iraq. The recovery can take years. We still see homeless Viet Nam vets.
Gioia Timpanelli
“No one in the world, yes, in the world, can tell a story better than Gioia Timpanelli”. – Frank McCourt
One afternoon I got a call from Ann King. “Hi Thurman. I just heard from Gioia Timpanelli. She wants you to call her. She wants to do a show for the pantry. She wants to do a storytelling evening.”
WOW! One call led to another and Gioia Timpanelli worked some real magic. She….Mary Savage, Dawn Meola, Laurie McGrath, Jean Druffner, Janet Carles, Karen Pillsworth, and Ann Epner….created a totally mystical and magical evening for us.
The evening began with a surprise visit from the Rosendale Marching Band.
Then, each woman told a story which transported us all to another time and place. Each story carried magic. Each story hinted of a miracle in each of our lives. The message was especially important to us as pantry people. Our pantry moved day-by-day on the hope and reality of miracles.
Gioia put together this evening from beginning to end.
Gioia gathered together her storytelling friends. They came from far and wide to tell a story for the pantry.,
Gioia went to the Daily Freeman, the Kingston newspaper, and got a gorgeous front page spread over the fold with a wonderful photo (taken by her daughter, no less).
Gioia managed the rehearsals.
Gioia hosted the evening.
And then, finally, Gioia managed the donations.
This was such a gift for our pantry. Gioia is a national treasure. For her to orchestrate this evening said volumes about the needs of the hungry. For me, this evening not only brought in much needed money, it brought validation to our cause, our determination to feed the hungry.
Blessings to Gioia…and storytellers the world over.
Peace and food for all.
Thurman Greco
The Food Coming to Our Pantry from the Food Bank Has Been Diverted From a Landfill
There’s absolutely no excuse for anyone in our great country to go hungry.
The third category was Donated Food. This was usually canned or boxed food in really good condition which manufacturers couldn’t sell or supermarkets had overstocked.
All the cans had labels in good condition and none of the cans were dented.
Popular donated items included Barilla Pasta, Breyer’s Ice Cream, Cheez-It Crackers, Chobani Yogurt, Hellman’s Mayonnaise, Hunt’s Products, Kellogg’s Cereals, Lipton Teas, Nestea, Pepsi products, Progresso Soup, Suave Shampoos, Tide soap, Triscuit Crackers, V-8 Juices.
Co-op was the fourth category. The food in this category was offered at more or less grocery store prices. Coop food supplements the donated food inventory. The Coop food enables the Food Bank to have an inventory which meets the needs of the agencies. Except for toilet paper and eggs, I rarely bought from this category because our pantry simply couldn’t afford the costs. Even so, the eggs were a few cents cheaper than anywhere else and the toilet paper was important to the households with no funds.
Eggs were always a challenge. They’re only available through the pantry in the Co-op section of the catalogue. They were rarely in the refrigerator case at the Food Bank when we went for produce and dairy products weekly. Purchasing the eggs locally was hard because we needed about 150-200 dozen eggs at a time. My main source when we couldn’t connect with the food bank was Aldi. They were about the only store that really didn’t care how many dozen eggs we bought. Price Chopper in Saugerties was a real lifesaver a couple of times also.
One winter I was having a really tough time getting soup. Then, Progresso donated a large load of soup to the Food Bank. Hurrah! After hurricane Sandy, ConAgra sent a generous load of canned goods to the food bank. To this day, two favorite words in my vocabulary are Progresso and ConAgra.
Thanks for reading these Food Bank posts. I hope they’re answering questions for you. Tomorrow’s post will begin with a discussion of dumpster diving and months when we had almost nothing.
Peace and food for all.
Thurman Greco
Woodstock, NY
