Hunger Is Not a Disease

Do you ever…? 10 questions to ask hungry friends, relatives, neighbors.

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Do you ever run out of $$$ to buy the food to make a meal?

Do you ever eat less food than you need because you ran out of $$$ to buy the food?

Do you ever eat less food than you need because you can’t get the food?

Do you ever skip meals because you don’t have $$$ for food?

Do you ever skip meals because you can’t get the food?

Do you ever do without fresh/frozen fruits and vegetables because you don’t have $$$ to purchase these products?

Do you ever go to bed hungry?

Do you ever skip meals so that your children will have enough to eat?

Do your children ever eat less than they need because you don’t have enough to eat?

Do your children ever go to bed hungry?

Each week at the pantry, people line up to file through the tiny room in the shed.  Most of them come weekly…as they should.  That’s how they get the most food for the time invested.  They get a 3-day supply of food which must last a week.

They hold their heads high, chat with  neighbors in the line, put on the best face possible.  I see them week after week, trying to get  food they need at the pantry.  I cannot help but have questions.  I need to shift the focus from general to  specific, nothing more.   To me, each person is individual.  Each one has unique  needs.

As an agency of the Food Bank of Northeastern New York and the Hudson Valley, the volunteers of the Reservoir Food Pantry are trained to feed the hungry a 3-day supply of food to include fresh fruits and vegetables, proteins, whole wheat breads, dairy products.  We are extremely proud of the quality of food which we serve to our shoppers.

This 3-day-supply of food includes food for three meals on each of the three days.  Each meal needs to offer 3 of the 5 food groups.

We get this food from the Food Bank.  Grocers, food manufacturers, farmers generously donate it.  For the most part, it’s  diverted from the landfill.

In spite of the landfill diversion, the quality of this food is excellent.  Much of it, especially the fresh fruits and vegetables, is organic.  It is food that all of us who volunteer at the Reservoir Food Pantry are proud to offer.

We serve this food to:

Seniors whose social security is not enough to buy the food they need to eat.

Families whose  children need enough to eat so they can learn at school.

Seriously ill people whose income is focused on paying medical bills with no $$$ left for food.

Homeless people with no kitchens.

People living in food deserts who lack transportation to get to a first line grocery store/super market.

When I see these people each week, I cannot help but see that the numbers grow weekly.   I am always confronted with one final question:

Why, in our United States of America in the 21st century, are over 49,000,000 people not getting enough to eat?

http://www.reservoirfoodpantry.org

http://www.FoodBankofHudsonValley.org

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Peace and food for all.

Thurman Greco