Hunger Is Not a Disease

Monday, Feb. 16, 2015, noon, 16 degrees at the Reservoir Food Pantry

I drove up to the parking lot we use on pantry day.  It’s not our parking lot, really.  It belongs to the old Robert’s Auction building.  The snow plow guy had cleaned the space very well so I knew right away that we were going to have a good day.  Then, I noticed that the walkway from the parking lot to the shed entrance hadn’t been shoveled.

WOW.  The snow was knee deep along the walkway.  Oh well.  At least we could park our cars.

It didn’t matter anyway.  The sun was out.  People could park.  This was the closest to a decent day we’ve had in 3 weeks.  We were going to be busy today.

I slogged through the snow to the shed and found Cheryl. Minutes later Bob and Tony arrived. Things were improving! The pantry day began itself. As volunteers arrived, we tackled our jobs:
Fronting the shelves in the pantry.
Arranging produce in the greenhouse.
Preparing takeout bags.
Checking to see if the greenhouse door would close (it didn’t). We’d had trouble closing it last week and wondered how it would manage today (it didn’t).
Finding pens that work for the sign in book. This is always a challenge when the temperature drops below 30.

Jean, a new volunteer in her 80’s, found a shovel in her car and cleared the walkway the best she could.

When the pantry opened, shoppers made their way through the snow from the parking lot to the shed. A steady stream of people came all afternoon. Those who had cars brought those who did not. They were:
Hungry
Cold
Grateful.

Everything stopped about 4 so we packed up and headed out. Only then did I notice that there was no feeling in my fingers, toes, nose, ears. Cheryl and I had worked in the shed where there was some heat in spite of the door opening repeatedly. (The wall thermometer showed a steady 36 all afternoon.)

Bob and Susanne worked in the greenhouse where, in spite of the heater, there was only cold. The open door made the whole room feel like outside. 17 degrees.
Prasida worked in the greenhouse for awhile as she prepared to go on her takeout run. Sean and Bonnie came by and collected produce for their takeouts as well.

We are, as a pantry, people racing against all odds to feed the hungry. We do much to make sure everyone receives fresh produce every pantry day. Our new van, just yesterday christened “The Beast,” will be offering more and more produce as the shoppers increase.

Most of our volunteers are similar to other pantry volunteers. We’re cotton tops old enough to have our priorities straight. We agree that feeding the hungry is important. We make time in our remaining days to do the job.

What sets us apart at Reservoir Food Pantry is the number of volunteers. We have many and more show up every week.

The bottom line: As a group, we don’t care if the weather is hot, cold, wet, dry. We’re at the pantry to serve the people. So, as long as we can get the food, there are now options for everyone in the area who is hungry:
Elderly poor,
Employed poor,
Food insecure,
Generational poor,
Homeless (sheltered),
Homeless (unsheltered),
Ill poor,
Infant poor,
Malnourished,
Newly poor,
Persistent poor,
Resource poor,
Situational poor,
Struggling poor,
Underemployed poor,
Unemployed poor.
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Peace and food for all.
Thurman Greco