The Face of Hunger/The Face of Hope
Every Monday, she brings her little granddaughter to the pantry –
Sue, maybe 4, is shy – absolutely beautiful – and still totally unaware of her situation:
White
Mother working 2+ jobs
Not enough to eat
Threadbare clothes
This lovely child takes pleasure in the smallest treats. Today her treat is a can of juice one of the volunteers found that’s not yet dented.
Her grandmother is teaching her to:
stand in line quietly
smile
say “thank you”.
How these mothers and grandmothers can get these little children to stand perfectly still and quiet for the time it takes to go through the line is completely beyond me.
But, back to the story.They get a 3-day supply of food which will last for 7 days, this struggling pair.
She’s always happy visit the pantry. It’s got 2 rooms so their next stop is the produce room where they have apples today.
Garrett and Susanne also keep the place well stocked with children’s books so there will be another treat for her.
When I see this pair, I see the universal grandmother and granddaughter next door. They are us. They are our neighbors. They are our cousins. I am reminded that we do not live in a we/they world. The hungry are us.
I’ve been working in a food pantry for years…certainly long enough to have become hardened to the reality and face of hunger. However, that is not what has happened. If anything, I’m more sensitive to the issues. I now truly believe that humans are not meant to suffer hunger and poverty. We are not meant to turn our heads away from the issue of hunger.
Most poor families in America are working families. The low wages earned by the millions of hungry Americans are not enough to cover the cost of housing, medical care, child care, transportation, clothing and food.
As the Struggling Class begins cutting food because the budget no longer allows it, they begin by cutting out meat. If that is not enough, they go to the second level and cut out meat, vegetables and eat eat only cereals.
Finally, it means cutting out an entire meal every day.
Food Pantries offer the hope of at least not starving to death. When people visit food pantries they can get food which they otherwise could not purchase. This brings hope to us all – not only the hungry but to those who work to appease the situation.
http://www.allianceforpositivehealth.org
http://www.foodbankofhudsonvalley.org
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Please refer this article to your preferred social media network.
Thurman Greco
Do you ever…? 10 questions to ask hungry friends, relatives, neighbors.
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
Summertime
“What’s happened?” she asked with concern in her voice.
“What do you mean? ” I replied.
“What happened to the people?”
“Oh, that. Well, it’s summer.”
What’s happened is that the faces are often different in the pantry in the summer. When you’re living on the edge, when you’re a member of the Struggling Class, the change of seasons counts for a lot.
People who were too sick to make it to the pantry in cold are now able to make it out. How they manage to make it through the winter is a question for me. These shoppers barely get enough to eat as it is. How do they eat over the winter? Humans are not bears and don’t hibernate. What do these disabled do to survive?
And, yet, we have many in this category.
Some can’t make it to the pantry in the winter because their vehicles aren’t winter worthy. Beyond a certain temperature, the cars just don’t work. Then, as spring rolls around, they manage to get them running again to drive to the pantry during the warmer months.
Making it to the pantry in the winter is really difficult for the homeless. Truthfully, I don’t know how some of these homeless live in the winter. How they keep from freezing to death seems to me to be a miracle.
We lose some shoppers also. In the winter, men visit the pantry regularly because they don’t have work. Then, as the weather gets warmer, they find jobs and can’t come to the pantry because they’re working when the pantry is open.
We always miss these guys because they are good volunteers and really make a contribution to the pantry during the cold months.
One staple which carries everyone through challenges is peanut butter. Peanut butter is important to everyone in the Struggling Class.
It is important because it:
can be eaten right out of the jar.
needs no refrigeration.
has a long shelf life.
is not necessary to have teeth in order to eat it.
does not have to be combined with another food in order to be palatable.
is nutritious.
does not usually come in a container requiring a can opener.
is not necessary to cook it.
The only hitch to this whole wonderful story about peanut butter is that most of the time, there is no peanut butter in the food pantry.
The only time we are able to get peanut butter in our pantry is when we are having a peanut butter drive. It’s been months since we’ve had a decent amount, or any amount, of peanut butter.
Can you help?
There are 2 ways you can come to our rescue:
Our pantry is open Mondays from 2 to 4 in the afternoon. I’m usually there by 10:00 am.
On Tuesday mornings from 9:00 to 10:00 we are in the pantry packing the take out bags.
If you live/work in the area and want to bring some peanut butter to the pantry, we’re happy to receive it then.
If dropping the peanut butter off at the pantry is not convenient, we’ll be happy to accept your donation and purchase the peanut butter for the pantry. Please send the check to: Reservoir Food Pantry, P.O.Box 245, Boiceville, NY 12412.
We thank you in advance for this generosity. Currently, we serve over 150 households each week. Everyone needs peanut butter.
Peace and food for all.
Thurman Greco
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Grocery shopping is always a problem for the elderly.
I first met her outside the shed at the Reservoir Food Pantry. A recent widow, I heard her comment “I just never knew how hard it was going to be as a widow.” Her husband died just over a year ago and she’s still making her way toward accepting her new reality.
“I never knew it would be so difficult…being alone like this. I’ll never tell my children I come here. I don’t want them to know.”
As she spoke, she wiped an occasional tear while moving through the pantry line with a group of women, all about her own age. They were choosing corn and apples, squashes, greens, onions, potatoes. As the line snaked forward, she turned her attention to the canned goods: beans, soup, fruits, veggies.
Pat hasn’t made it to the food stamp office in Kingston. For one thing, it’s a good half hour down Route 28. For another, she’s afraid:
of the forms,
the humiliation of being unable to survive on her own,
the long wait in a building she may not even be able to find,
finally, she’s afraid of the whole process which she finds frightening.
Her financial situation isn’t so far from all the other older women in the pantry line. Grocery shopping for the elderly is difficult under the best of circumstances. Getting to the grocery store can be challenging for older people – getting around in the parking lot and going up and down the grocery store aisles is no fun anymore. And, then, when they can’t find what they need, they have to maneuver the muddy parking area and the scary entrance ramp at the pantry. And…we haven’t even discussed the packages yet. They’ve got to be gotten home and in the house (wherever and whatever that is).
Finally, getting high quality, affordable food is more and more difficult as the days go by. And, as difficult as it is for Pat, she’s one of the lucky ones. She’s got a working automobile.
Combine the lack of a working automobile, bad weather, not enough $$$ and you’ve got the makings of a disaster for a senior.
I keep telling everyone who’ll listen that seniors should get their SNAP card, a list of nearby pantries, and their first social security check at the same time. So far, nobody has listened. Of course not. Why should they? We’ve all got gray hair.
Seniors struggle with the big 3:
food
housing
medical expenses.
Forget the extras like clothing. As seniors, we get less, pay more, and go without. When I need something new to wear, I go to the boutique of my closet.
Healthcare costs can be devastating, even to a senior with medicare. Once a person comes down with cancer or other expensive disease, the pocketbook empties pretty fast.
There is real pressure to feed the rising tide of hungry people at every pantry. We get questionnaires periodically from different agencies wanting to know how often we run out of food. How does “weekly” sound?
The Big 3 for pantries include:
high unemployment
widespread poverty
deep cuts in social spending programs.
Pantries, for the most part, are
arbitrary,
subjective,
strongly biased
when it comes to deciding who can and cannot receive food. There are simply too many agencies with too many people standing in line for too little food for any food bank or state office to properly oversee and supervise the selection process.
As far as feeding the hungry, we’re not even coming close to filling the need created by the widespread poverty and deep spending cuts. People in food pantry lines are, in a severe winter, choosing between eating and heating.
Our pantry, housed in a shed, an old green house, and the back of a restaurant is a ragtag emergency food movement which is in reality not emergency at all.
Lines and crowds outside our pantry on Monday afternoons can easily convince any onlooker that the good old U S of A has a food problem.
http://www.reservoirfoodpantry.org
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Peace and food for all.
Thurman
The Big 3: We get less, pay more, and do without.
WHAT GROCERIES CAN YOU BUY FOR $16?
(The Minium SNAP Allotment)
Prices from Kingston Walmart
– 1 dozen eggs – $1.98
– 1/2 gallon milk – $1.94
– 1 lb. pinto beans – $1.28
– 1 lb. rice – $ .84
– 1 lb. onions – $ .99
– 1 can diced tomatoes – $ .79
– 1 lb ground turkey – $2.98
– 1 can corn – $ .77
– 1 lb. potatoes – $2.97
– 1 can tuna – $ .78
Total = $15.32
I first met Pat last fall when she came to the Reservoir Food Pantry the first time. She’s an older woman, a widow. Her husband died just over a year ago She’s still making her way toward her new life.
“I never dreamed it would be so hard…being alone like this. I didn’t tell my children that I came here. I don’t want them to know the situation.”
While she spoke, she wiped an occasional tear. She moved through the pantry line composed of a group of women, all about her own age. They chose corn, apples, squash, late season greens, onions, potatoes. As the line snaked forward, she turned her attention to the canned goods: beans, soup, fruits, veggies.
Pat hasn’t visited the SNAP (food stamp) office in Kingston yet. For one thing, it’s a good half hour down Route 28. For another, she’s afraid:
the forms,
the humiliation of being unable to survive on her own,
the long wait in a building that she may not even be able to find. And, finally, she’s afraid of the whole process which she finds threatening.
Her financial situation isn’t so far from all the other women in the pantry line. Grocery shopping for the elderly is difficult under the best circumstances. Getting to the grocery store can be challenging for order people – getting around in the parking lot and going up and down the grocery store aisles is no fun anymore. Then, when they can’t find what they need at a price they can afford, they have to maneuver the muddy parking lot and the scary entrance ramp at our pantry.
We haven’t even discussed the packages yet. They’ve got to be gotten home and in the house wherever and whatever that is.
Finally, finding affordable high quality food becomes more difficult as the days go by. As difficult as it is for Pat, she’s one of the lucky ones. Her automobile works.
The combination of a nonworking automobile, bad weather, insufficient $$$ is the makings of a disaster for a senior.
I keep telling everyone who will listen that seniors should get their SNAP card, a list of nearby pantries, and their Medicare card at the same time. So far, nobody has heard.
“Of course not.” I tell myself. “Why should they? We’ve all got gray hair.”
Seniors struggle with the Big 3:
food
housing
medical expenses.
Forget the frills like Kleenex and clothes. As seniors, we get less, pay more, and go without. We decide whether to heat or eat.
Healthcare costs can be devastating, even to a senior on medicare. Once a person comes down with cancer or other major disease, the pocketbook empties pretty fast.
There is a real pressure to feed the rising tide of hungry at every pantry. We receive questionnaires periodically from different agencies wanting to know how often we run out of food. How does “weekly” sound?
The Big 3 for pantries include:
high unemployment,
widespread hunger
deep cuts in social spending programs.
Every pantry is different. Some feed anyone who needs food.
Others are arbitrary and biased when it comes to deciding who can or cannot receive food.
Yet others require paper work which cuts eliminates the homeless entirely.
There are too many agencies with too many people standing in line for too little food. No Food Bank office can oversee or supervise the selection process.
At Reservoir Food Pantry, we serve a 3-day-supply of food with a large dash of dignity to all who come.
The lines and crowds outside pantries can easily convince any onlookers that our nation has a food problem.
Thank you for reading this blog/book.
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Peace and food for all.
Thurman Greco
“Are you closing?”
The call came out of the blue. A pantry management person I never, ever hear from called: “Are you closing your pantry? I heard this and I’m not the kind of person to spread gossip, so I’m asking you personally.”
“No. No, the Reservoir Food Pantry is not planning to close” I replied. Actually, I’ve been having people call me for almost a year asking if we’re closing. I always ask everyone who approaches me: ” Who did you hear this from?”
“I don’t remember, Thurman.”
“Well, I sure wish I could get someone to spill the beans because I’d love to call that person up and find out what started this whole rumor.”
If I’ve had this conversation once, I’ve had it a dozen times over the past few months. So, here for all the world to read, is the bald truth. The Reservoir Food Pantry is not closing. Actually, we’re growing like a weed.
Every Monday morning Prasida and Francine go to Latham and return with all the produce they can haul back in our long line van. They, Bob Overton, Garrett O’Dell, and Susanne Traub put it out on tables and serve it to the shoppers. By 4:00, there is usually none left. Fruits, vegetables, pies, cakes, meat, fish, yogurt, eggs, …it’s all gone.
We serve about 100 families every Monday afternoon at 2:00. On Tuesdays and Fridays we deliver food to another approximate 50 home bound households.
We have an annual mailing in which we ask the community to support us financially in our efforts.
We are at the entrances of the Kingston Walmart one weekend every month asking shoppers to help us feed the hungry.
Every other month we are at the entrance to the Boiceville IGA on a Saturday as well.
We recently opened a Capital Building account at the bank.
We are actively involved in disaster preparation activities.
The volunteers of the Reservoir Food Pantry are a group of committed individuals focused on feeding the hungry as a way of celebrating the amazing abundance which is available in our country. Only in the good old U S of A could there be this much food available…just for bringing to pantries.
We are:
your tax dollars at work.
an environmental effort as we intercept food bound for the landfill and bring it to the pantry for distribution.
working together to feed the hungry.
looking for a larger space that is located above the flood plain.
extremely grateful for the opportunity we have to feed the hungry in the Ashokan Reservoir area.
It is an honor and a pleasure for us to be in Boiceville in the little red shed behind Robert’s Auction.
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www.reflexologyforthespirit.com
www.goodmorningwoodstock.com
www.sugarsecurity.com
my.Benefits.ny.gov
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Peace and food for all.
Thurman Greco
Walmart and the Minimum Wage
As the country’s largest employer, Walmart gets criticized for many “wrongs” not exclusive to itself.
Although retailers throughout our country only pay minimum wages, people act like Walmart is the only one. They pretend the other retailers pay over $10 per hour and include wonderful benefits like health care and retirement.
Wrong!
Most retailers pay what Walmart pays – maybe even a little less. In our own Woodstock area, retailers not only pay less, they often pay their sales employees off the books.
So, the recent news of Walmart and the minimum wage hourly rate increases to $9 per hour is an excuse to celebrate, if nothing else. Walmart is a trendsetter! Hopefully this move will motivate other retailers to do the same.
Those of us who work in pantries fantasize we’ll have fewer people in our lines. In some locales, I’m sure that may be true.
However, I harbor no fantasies. For one thing, the people in our pantry line are mostly senior citizens too old to work. For another, those young enough to hold down jobs work for companies who aren’t going to raise the wages.
Over the past few decades, we’ve created a food system for the poor. The more affluent in our country shop in super markets. Everyone else shops at the convenience store, pharmacy grocery aisle, the food pantry.
Because of the situation created in recent years by food deserts, the underemployed or unemployed poor struggle to get enough food to eat while also trying to get the right kinds of nutritious foods needed to stay healthy.
Over the years, food manufacturers, farmers, grocers, corporations, foundations, individuals, and the government work together to provide surplus food to feed those in need.
The goal: give food assistance to the hungry.
Since 2006, the need for emergency food has morphed into an ongoing need for food for people from all walks of life.
The new paradigm is to feed them nutritious food regularly because these people can no longer buy the food to feed themselves.
Many find themselves in this position for the first time in their lives. There are now men, women, and children needing assistance to alleviate hunger in every county in every state in the union, as well as the District of Columbia.
High unemployment/underemployment, increasing housing costs, rising poverty, the rising cost of fuel to heat apartments and homes, increasing transportation costs, and the escalating cost of food make emergency food assistance become supplemental food assistance.
Financial safety nets disappear as congress repeatedly cuts benefits.
Today’s pervasive hunger undermines our communities, schools, work force, and national security.
When people don’t have enough food to eat today, it’s impossible to plan for tomorrow. People with enough to eat work better and learn better. They can build a better life for themselves and their families.
This is what Walmart raising the minimum wage is all about.
Raising the minimum wage a few cents or dollars is not about solving the problems of poverty. It’s about feeding the hungry.
Thank you Walmart, and every other employer in our country who pays workers a living wage. You are to be commended. Hopefully this will start a trend toward employers everywhere paying living wages to workers.
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Peace and food for all.
Thurman Greco
Is This Life Now?
The New York Times – Friday, February 27, 2015 – “Food Waste Grows with the Middle Class” – page A24
A recent New York Times Editorial highlighted the “massive food waste” around the world. I urge you to read it. It was extremely well written, as are all of the NYT editorials.
Containing all the right buzz words:
landfills,
hunger,
waste disposal,
global warming threat,
it just didn’t go far enough.
FOOD PANTRIES FEED THEIR CLIENTS SURPLUS FOOD INTERCEPTED ON ITS WAY TO THE LANDFILL. They simply no longer have the $$$ for food at the supermarket or they live in food deserts (neighborhoods where there are no grocery stores or supermarkets.)
Is this life now? Yes, this is life in 21st century America. This is not emergency food. This is the new way we live in the good old U S of A.
PEOPLE ARE OFTEN ASHAMED TO SHOP IN PANTRIES. They don’t want to be seen bringing pantry food home. They don’t want to explain to their friends, neighbors, relatives about their inability to buy food at the supermarket. Well, now they can move on past the shame and embarrassment. With this New York Times editorial, we can all see that hungry people lacking $$$ to purchase food at a grocery store are now a part of the solution instead of the problem.
Hungry people shopping at food pantries help fight food waste. Food pantry shoppers can now realize they are helping reduce global warming emissions.
People shopping at pantries are in a financial bind where they are forced to make trade-offs. They pay rent when they don’t have enough food to eat. They “heat or eat”.
Often, they make health care trade-offs. People unable to seek needed medical care are unable to make good choices. Eventually they’ll be forced to deal with the medical situation and the longer they wait, the more expensive the situation becomes. The healthcare $$$ has been diverted to rent or transportation to get to work.
Articles like the New York Times editorial make it difficult for citizens in our country to completely ignore the fact that more and more people are going without food in our great nation because they simply don’t have the $$$ to buy it. We can no longer deny that hunger exists and it is becoming more and more difficult to be indifferent about it.
So, now, with this editorial, those of us who are hungry and ashamed of the situation we are caught in can feel better about ourselves. We can now shop at the pantry and eat at the soup kitchen knowing that we are, in spite of the low wages we work for, doing our part for a healthy planet. We are fighting global warming. We are our tax dollars at work.
If you read this blog and feel you are among those who don’t have enough $$$ for food, now is a good time to begin to shop at a pantry for the food you need for your household.
There is no better time than now for you to not only support your community but also your planet.
See you at the pantry!
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Peace and food for all.
Thurman Greco
SNAP and Seniors: Many just don’t get it.
Please share this post with any and all seniors you may know. Chances are they might be able to use the information…especially since 1 senior in 7 in our country doesn’t get enough to eat.
Seniors are extremely reluctant to use SNAP, partly because of myths surrounding SNAP.
SNAP Myth #1:
Why apply for SNAP? It’s not worth the hassle. I may not even get much $$$.
SNAP Reality #1:
Most people get more than just a few dollars. Some families receive over $100. But, whatever you get – it all adds up, Over time, you’re going to receive several hundred dollars annually. This $ is yours.
Whether it’s $16 or $160 is not the issue here. This is $$$ that you paid taxes with all these years.
Look at it this way: If you get $16 in SNAP benefits, you can buy eggs, milk, bread, butter. Every penny counts.
Whatever the amount, you are going to be eating better – staying healthier – and using tax dollars that you paid all these years.
SNAP Myth #2:
If I get SNAP, I’ll be taking away food benefits from others who may need them more such as young families with children.
SNAP Reality #2:
There are funds set aside for everyone who qualifies. The funds are federal. No one participating in the SNAP program will be taking away anything from anyone. On the contrary, by using SNAP funds, you will be bringing dollars into your community. You will be helping your town.
Many seniors qualify for SNAP and are not even aware of this benefit.
SNAP Myth #3:
I’ll have to have a face-to-face interview to get on the SNAP roster.
SNAP Reality #3:
Any senior who is ill, has transportation difficulties, has hardships due to living in a rural area, is experiencing prolonged severe weather, or is under the care of another household member does not need to have a face-to-face interview.
In New York State, seniors can be interviewed by phone or with a scheduled home visit.
Basically, the issue here is trust. Seniors sometimes do not trust the process and are afraid of it. Filling out the application can be very challenging for those of us who have cognitive or physical limitations.
A further barrier is language. Many seniors simply do not have the English language skills to apply for SNAP – and they know it. There is another category here: the senior who feels s/he lacks the skills and does not realize that there are professionals who speak the language who can help with the application process.
AND FINALLY
Hunger among seniors is at an epidemic level…especially in New York State. SNAP offers access to a healthy diet which is extremely important for the overall health of seniors.
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Peace and food for all.
Thurman Greco
