School Days Are Here Again! – feeding the hungry
NEVER IN MY WILDEST DREAMS DID I EVER THINK I WOULD WRITE THIS BLOG POST. NEVER.
Hunger is a condition. It accompanies malnourishment. As Mark Bittman of the New York Times said: “Hunger can lead to starvation; starvation to death.“
School supplies, school clothes, shoes, coats, sweaters, lunches, snacks.
WHERE ARE ALL THESE THINGS TO COME FROM FOR THE HOUSEHOLD WHERE THE ONLY THING IN ABUNDANCE IS THE INSIDE OF AN EMPTY REFRIGERATOR?
Nationwide, 17 million children go to bed at night hungry. In many of these households, parents and older siblings go hungry so the younger ones can eat.
FOOD INSECURE SCHOOL CHILDREN HAVE A MUCH HARDER TIME LEARNING THAN THEIR WELL FED CLASSMATES. Statistics from the Feeding America survey tell us that one child in five eats only as school. Food Banks try to fill this gap by offering backpack programs in tandem with Food Pantries and Elementary Schools. Lucky is the child leaving school Friday afternoons with a backpack filled with nourishing food to eat over the weekend.
There are few to no Backpack Programs in our area so the volunteers at the Reservoir Food Pantry work overtime to secure enough food for families with school children.
Only 2 weeks ago pantry volunteers were outside the Kingston Walmart for three days soliciting peanut butter and jelly for school sandwiches. These volunteers will return on September 4th, 5th, and 6th to ask for food for school lunches.
On Saturday, September 27th, we’ll be outside the Boiceville IGA asking for food for school children also.
If you can drop by either of these places with a donation, we’ll be extremely grateful. If you can’t make it and want to send a donation, please send it to Reservoir Food Pantry, P.O.Box 245, Boiceville, NY 12412. Either way: dropping by the store or sending a check, we’re grateful. The food will be used to feed hungry children.
CHILDREN LEARN BETTER WHEN THEY RECEIVE NEEDED NUTRITIOUS FOOD.
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Peace and food for all.
Thurman Greco
Food Pantry Blog – Whew!
Such a day! Such a week! Even I can’t believe all of it. But, I suppose actions speak for themselves. And, I have to realize we’ve been working towards this week for a whole year now.
Volunteers at the Reservoir Food Pantry are living proof that excitement can make a person drunk. We were intoxicated on gratitude all day Monday.
For starters, Prasida went off to Latham early Monday morning and returned at noon with almost 700 pounds of fresh produce – gorgeous produce. Corn, greens, potatoes, onions, carrots, herbs, spinach, apples, apricots, peaches, melons, beans.
And, while Prasida was off on 87 doing her thing, the two Bobs, Pat and I were over at the Hannaford’s getting our very first monthly shipment. With a lot of planning and praying, this went off without a hitch. This is a huge step for our new little pantry. We’re working on a standing appointment at 11:30 on delivery day!
Then, we made our way over to the pantry and set up our tables. The spread, under a gorgeous sky, was the best ever. And, to celebrate all this bounty, some of us worked the distribution tables serving groceries from the Food Bank, Migliorelli Farm, Shandaken Community Gardens, Bread Alone, and Esotec.
Others measured shelving for the new shed we just put behind Robert’s Auction. At one point, Sean went off to purchase same so we can get it installed.
By the end of the pantry day, we were all so excited we weren’t touching the ground.
We’re soon to celebrate our first anniversary! We hope you’ll come out between 4 and 7 on the afternoon of September 11th. We won’t be hard to find. We’ll be in the adorable red shed behind Robert’s Auction in Boiceville.
Come out and see what all the excitement is about. Come share some refreshments. Come see where people pantry shop in the Reservoir area!
Peace and food for all.
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Thurman Greco
Why Don’t You All Go Out and Get a Job?
I’m sorry I’m late to work in the pantry today Thurman. I promise it won’t happen again. I was over at the pet store until just now unpacking and stacking the dog food. They gave me food for Chloe and Freedy in exchange for working today. I promise it won’t happen again.”
“Alice, don’t worry at all. Robyn happened by. Sometimes I think this pantry is charmed. People always surface when we need them. It’s very important for you to get pet food and you know how the building committee feels about pet food in the pantry.”
WHY ARE SO MANY PEOPLE IN NEED OF A PANTRY? Why are there so many people in our country today? What is happening?
Employment opportunities are a large part of the problem. People find themselves down and out in places where there are few jobs. Young people graduate from high school or college and can’t find employment.
The downturn of 2008 erased many job opportunities. When the economy finally does recover, many of these jobs won’t be returning. My fear is that the recovery will create a new, large class of citizens permanently living in the poverty of underemployment and unemployment.
WE’VE ALREADY GOT A TERM FOR THIS GROUP: THE STRUGGLING CLASS.
Education costs are a factor. Fewer and fewer people can afford college these days. Some are afraid of the college loans they might not be able to pay off. One young woman in our line works 60 hours weekly in low wage jobs to repay her loan.
A fairly common question I hear in the pantry line is “Are you working on or off?” What they’re finding out with the question is how many hours a person is working on the books and how many hours off the books. Not only is this illegal but it’s robbing our younger generation of any benefit accrual, and the opportunity to pay taxes.
I ALSO HEAR STORIES ABOUT PEOPLE WHO HAVE HAD THEIR WAGES STOLEN BY EMPLOYERS. HUNGER ACTION NETWORK DESCRIBES THIS AS AN EPIDEMIC.
Our country needs to make a few fundamental attitude adjustments.
One important shift is to realize that food stamps, food pantries, soup kitchens, shelters are no longer emergency concepts. They are a new way of life in 21st century America. When we accept this fact, the shame factor will be removed and seniors and children will sleep better at night unaccompanied by their old friend hunger.
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Peace and food for all.
Thurman
Grandpa Woodstock
I’LL NEVER KNOW WHY THEY THREW HIM IN THE SLAM LAST WEEK. I MEAN…WHY NOW?
Father Woodstock, Grandpa Woodstock, or whatever you called him, showed up here almost 20 years ago. The story goes that he was homeless. At least, that’s what he told me in the pantry one day. “I’m the luckiest man in the world Thurman. I lived a homeless life all these years until I found the lovely Lady Estar. And, here I am now, married to a beautiful woman with 3 houses.”
Father Woodstock, Lady Estar, and their beloved dog Hector, visited the pantry every Wednesday afternoon right according to schedule. Hector waited outside the door in the colorful cart Father Woodstock had made for Lady Estar. Hector had a special little seat in the back of the cart. As far as I know, he never tried to jump out.
The only time they missed a pantry afternoon was when they took the bus somewhere and went on a vacation to get out of the heat in Woodstock. Maybe THAT has something to do with why he was arrested. He and Lady Estar didn’t go anywhere this August. Our summer this year was just too cool and too wonderful.
BUT, THAT’S GETTING AHEAD OF THE STORY.
Father Woodstock came to town and became the most colorful of the colorful. Everyone loves him…especially every woman he comes in contact with. I, personally, loved him more than the others when he came into the pantry carrying his walking stick with the horn attached.
“YOU LOOK LOVELY TODAY!” he always said with feeling as he tooted the horn for emphasis. “Toot. Toot.” My heart melted. Because, in reality, working in the pantry was tough with watchers counting the minutes, checking the hallway lines, complaining about the cardboard, and me feeding the unworthy hungry. For the few minutes that Father Woodstock came in the pantry to shop, none of it mattered.
LONGTIME RESIDENTS RECALL THAT FATHER WOODSTOCK PACKED UP HIS WORLDLY POSSESSIONS AND TOOK OFF FOR BIXBY, ARIZONA EACH WINTER ON THE BUS. Boy, that must have been a trip! I can just see Father Woodstock now, entertaining everyone with stories, peace sign salutes, and telling all the women how beautiful they were. I think I would’ve loved the trip. There never would have been a dull moment, that’s for sure. Toot. Toot.
ABOUT FIVE YEARS AGO, FATHER WOODSTOCK AND LADY ESTAR FELL IN LOVE. What a pair! They’re perfect for each other.
As they wwere out in public, he and Lady Estar were always beautifully dressed. They both wore silk…flowing silk skirts and beautiful silk kimonos. They had a nice selection of lovely silk jackets. Their wardrobes consisted mostly of floral prints in their favorite color: red.
BOTH FATHER WOODSTOCK AND LADY ESTAR WORE THEIR DRESSES AND SKIRTS LONG. Their toenails were always painted. They wore Teva sandals. They both had long flowing silky silver hair and beards.
Father Woodstock liked to come to the small pantry weekly and choose foods he and Lady Estar could serve to the homeless people they entertained. As he chose apples, oranges, carrots, he commented to other women shoppers how beautiful they were. “Toot. Toot.”
THE MAN MAY NOT HAVE MEANT A WORD OF IT…HE PROBABLY DIDN’T MEAN A WORD OF IT. Now that I think about it, Father Woodstock was probably the best actor in town. But, nobody cared. For the moment, life was beautiful.
So, here we have a scene…a pattern…a reputation. Father Woodstock conducted himself in a certain fashion all these years in Woodstock. Everyone knew him, residents and tourists alike. He trained us all to smile when he came around. He trained us to gather around and ooh and aah when he posed for photographs with a peace smile and sign. “Toot. Toot.”
IN HIS OWN WAY, FATHER WOODSTOCK WAS AN AMBASSADOR FOR THE TOWN OF WOODSTOCK. People came from far corners of the globe as well as just one or two towns down to catch a glimpse of him, his colorful cart, and his peace sign. In his own way, he brought much money to Woodstock because when the people came to see him, they also bought a cup of coffee, a meal, a “find” at the flea market, a pair of shoes at Pegasus, or a necklace at Gwen’s Gems.
AND, NOW, HE’S IN JAIL IN LIEU OF $50,000 CASH OR $100,000 BOND BAIL.
So, if he’s been possessing and selling drugs, paraphernalia, and pharmaceutical equipment for the past twenty years, why did they wait until the full moon in August, 2014, to throw him in the slam?
Oh well, that’s Woodstock for you.
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Peace and food for all.
Thurman Greco
Thank You to Everyone Who Helps Out
THE RESERVOIR FOOD PANTRY OPENED LAST SEPTEMBER 9, 2013, TO VERY LITTLE FANFARE. As we approach our one-year anniversary, I am amazed at the number of people we are serving. We offer food weekly behind Robert’s Auction on Monday afternoons at 2:00. We deliver food to one senior community on Tuesdays. We deliver food to another community on Fridays. In between, volunteers deliver food to homebound individuals in the area.
Our success is the result of much thought, work, and planning on the part of the volunteers, and generosity on the part of area residents who provide food and funds whenever asked.
AS A NEW PANTRY IN THE FOOD BANK SYSTEM, WE’RE CONTINUALLY BUYING FOOD, GASOLINE, REPAIRS, OFFICE SUPPLIES, INSURANCE. We cannot ever, not in our wildest dreams, provide this much food to this many hungry people without the support of those around us .
You, our friends and neighbors, open your wallets and kitchen cabinets every time we ask.
Monthly, pantry volunteers stand at the entrance to the Kingston Walmart for three days asking for food and/or money to feed the hungry. The generosity of the Walmart employees allowing us to solicit for funds and the generosity of the store shoppers responding to our plea is mind boggling. We will be standing in front of the Walmart today, Thursday, and Friday.
EVERY OTHER MONTH, WE’RE OUTSIDE THE BOICEVILLE IGA ASKING FOR FOOD. People are always very generous to our plea.
We receive weekly food donations from Bread Alone, Migliorelli’s, and Shandaken Gardens.
I CANNOT EXPRESS OUR GRATITUDE ANY MORE PLAINLY THAN THIS: without your help, our pantry cannot exist.
Thank you.
Peace and food for all.
Thurman Greco
The Homeless Visit the Food Pantry
“Homeless is not a category of people. It’s just a situation that happens. It can happen to anyone.” -Salvador Altamirano-Segura
In some respects, the homeless have problems just like you and me…
mental illness
physical disabilities
domestic violence
HIV issues
employment
underemployment
unemployment.
Finally, many are also veterans.
THEY JUST DON’T HAVE A ROOF OVER THEIR HEADS.
Homeless people, families come into pantries very quietly. They’ve lost their voice. The goal is to melt into the background, get food, and disappear.
There are reasons for this. They are often suffering from mental illness in addition to homelessness. Homelessness accompanies a number of mental illnesses including schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. Mentally ill persons have a tendency to become chronically homeless.
This can create an exception to the voiceless rule as the person communicates with beings unknown to the rest of us in tongue we don’t understand. One shopper at our pantry has been in another world since before I began working at the pantry.
According to MentalIllnessPolicy.org, there are over 250,000 seriously mentally ill homeless persons in our country. This statistic is very telling. What it says is there are more homeless people with untreated severe psychiatric illnesses than there are people receiving care for their diseases.
I see the sidewalks of whatever town or city I’m in as nothing more than wards for the untreated mentally ill. They mentally ill homeless suffer with all the day-to-day survival that all homeless have and, to top it all off, they’re sick.
THE HOMELESS HAVE SPECIAL NEEDS OVERLOOKED IN A PANTRY.
For starters, they have no address. This can be a real hindrance if a pantry bureaucracy requires such. In some communities in this area, several kind souls allow the homeless to use their location as a mail drop/address so they can receive the services they so desperately need and so they can register to vote.
Many pantry coordinators have no concept of the food needs of the homeless. Because the homeless have their kitchens in their shirt pockets, they food they use is very limited: protein/cereal bars, peanut butter, crackers, fresh fruits and vegetables to be eaten raw: blueberries, carrot sticks, celery, lemons, lettuce, limes, milk in pint containers, nuts, oranges, strawberries, sweet peppers, tomatoes.
ON BEHALF OF THE MANY HOMELESS IN OUR COUNTRY, I THANK YOU FOR READING THIS BLOG/BOOK.
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Peace and food for all.
Thurman Greco
A Vision Quest at My Desk
IT SITS IN A CORNER OF MY HEALING SPACE – MY DESK.
It barely holds my laptop, the desk is so large in my life. For, at this desk, I am on a vision quest.
Some of my friends went on Vision Quests over twenty years ago when we were all in our fifties. These adventures mostly included travel to places like Macchu Picchu, or boating down the Amazon, or living in an ashram in India…things like that.
TO A WOMAN, EVERY ONE RETURNED REFRESHED, RENEWED, SPIRITUALLY AWAKENED…CHANGED.
Well, I’m on a vision quest now…at my neighborhood food pantry in scenic Upstate New York where I’ve seen things, heard things, felt things, learned things that I never would have even in my wildest dreams thought possible before 2005.
I’ve had the unique and precious pleasure to become intimately involved with artists, child abusers, children, church committees, church boards, crazies, the disabled, druggies, drunks, elderly men and women, hardworking people juggling two and three jobs, homeless, mentally ill, messed up people, ministers, monks, musicians, pastors, people battling terminal illness, poets, politicians, priests, rabbis, schizophrenics, thieves, veterans, volunteers, Woodstock’s colorful characters, writers in that tiny pantry room.
I’VE SCOURED THE COUNTRYSIDE LEARNING THE MEANING OF THE TERM ‘UNWORTHY HUNGRY.’
I’ve seen people in the depths of despair regain their dignity.
I’VE LEARNED TO FIGHT FOR WHAT I KNOW IS RIGHT, JUST, FAIR.
I’ve done many hundreds of other things too…including becoming a student at Gotham.
For the past year, in classes taught by Melissa Petro, Carl Capotorto, Allison Stein, Michael Leviton, and Cullen Thomas, I chronicled these conflicts. The skills I learned offer even more adventures.
I’M ON THIS ADVENTURE TO THE FINISH NOW. Last year, I didn’t even know what a blog looked like and now I’ve got two.
The first, I began in January, is a textbook on Reflexology which I’ve been teaching from for years.
The second blog, “Hunger is not a Disease”, is the story of hunger as told through the eyes of a small town food pantry.
On behalf of hungry people everywhere who frequent food pantries, soup kitchens, shelters, I thank you for reading this blog/book.
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Peace and Food for all.
Thurman Greco
There Shouldn’t Even Be Pantries
There are sufficient resources in the world to ensure that no one, nowhere, at no time, should go hungry. – Ed Asner
THE CROWD WAS HEAVY THAT AFTERNOON, WITH THE HALLS PACKED.
People had begun to line up two hours early to shop in the pantry. Every poverty category was gathered outside the door: artists, crazy poor, disabled poor, elderly poor, employed poor, disabled poor, generational poor, hardworking poor, homebound, homeless, ill poor, mentally ill poor, messed-up poor, musicians, poets, newly poor, resource poor, struggling poor, transient poor, underemployed poor, unemployed poor, veterans, Woodstock’s colorful characters, writers. They got a three-day supply of food last week and by now it was all gone.
THE PANTRY ROOM OVERFLOWED WITH PRODUCE: oranges, lemons, carrots, potatoes, onions, eggs, Bread Alone breads, Bella Pasta, packs of organic salad mixes, fresh herbs, mushrooms. The list seemed endless.
The pantry opened promptly at 3:00 and by 3:02, there were four people already shopping in a line in the pantry room.
PRASIDA, RICH, GUY, TONY, AND ROBYN WERE AT THEIR STATIONS MOVING PEOPLE ALONG.
“Will the next two people in line please come into the pantry room now?”
“We’ve got room for another person here.”
“HEY TONY, HERE COMES ANOTHER BOX”. I was pitching freshly emptied boxes to Tony about every 2-3 minutes.
“How”‘s it going? Don’t forget to take a bag of carrots. We were able to get enough for everyone to take a bag.”
“Wait, wait, wait. What’s wrong? You’re crying. What happened?”
“Oh Thurman, I feel sooo ashamed. I was at the head of the line. Suddenly, a man walked in the door who wasn’t a shopper. He came right up to the line and spoke to us all: ‘There shouldn’t be any pantries. None of you should even be here in this building. All of you should go out and get jobs.’ “
“Thurman, you know I’m too old to work. Nobody hires people in their 70’s.”
“Listen Beverly, don’t even think about it. It was nothing.”
“OKAY EVERYONE, LET’S KEEP SHOPPING.” I SAID AS I WENT TO THE PANTRY DOOR AND CALLED TO GUY.
“What’s going on?”
” Thurman, a watcher came in and told everyone in the line that we should all go out and get jobs and that none of us should even be in the building. Everyone’s upset. But, we’re handling it.”
“Thanks’s Guy.”
“Here Tony, can you take a couple of extra boxes real fast?”
“Thanks.”
“WE CAN TAKE TWO MORE PEOPLE IN THE PANTRY.”
“Thanks for coming today. Be sure and take all the bread and salad you want. Don’t forget to go down to the barn for some frozen food. We’ve got some good deals down there today.”
“Welcome to the pantry today.”
“Let’s keep the line moving now.”
“TONY, CAN YOU TAKE SOME MORE BOXES?”
On behalf of all the people shopping and volunteering in the Good Neighbor Food Pantry that afternoon, I thank you from the bottom of my heart for reading this blog/book.
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Peace and food for all.
Thurman Greco
Last Monday at the Reservoir Food Pantry
It is not necessary to advertise food to hungry people, fuel to cold people, or houses to the homeless.” – John Kenneth Galbraith
TWICE AS MANY FOUND US THIS MONDAY AT THE RESERVOIR FOOD PANTRY AS FOUND US JUST A FEW WEEKS AGO. We’re not trying to hide out or anything but each week, the number of people shopping at our pantry grows.
We’re open Monday afternoons from 2:00 to 4:00 up the hill behind Robert’s Auction. They trickle in, slowly, (some a little hesitantly), trying to figure out how to act at a food pantry. Soon, they’re visiting, chatting, getting to know one another over apples, asparagus, lettuce.
“How much of this can I have?”
“Look at this! I haven’t had an orange in ages.”
“Wow! What beautiful lettuce!”
The fresh produce comes from Migliorelli Farm, Shandaken Community Garden, and the Food Bank of Northeastern New York.
The bread comes from Bread Alone.
This event could have sent inexperienced volunteers into total confusion mode. Not this crowd. Everyone is experienced so we just went into expansion mode. Before 3:00, we were discussing where we’re going to put the new shelves we’re buying for the shed that just got delivered.
We were discussing where the new refrigerator and freezer that we so desperately need are going to go.
The shed had one level of need last week. This week is a totally new picture.
BECAUSE, WE ALL KNOW THAT NUMBERS GO UP IN A PANTRY. They don’t go down. The Boiceville area has needed a pantry for awhile so we’re prepared to expand to meet the demand created by increasing numbers of shoppers.
Our updated shopping list includes one refrigerator, one freezer, four sets of industrial shelves, and $280 more each month for gasoline to drive to Latham for food to feed the hungry.
Last Saturday saw Prasida, Bob, Sean, and Bonnie outside the Boiceville IGA asking for food or funds. Either was just fine. All the money donated went right into the grocery store for food. We bought everything on sale: canned tomatoes, canned tomato sauce, salad dressings, mustard, canned beans, soups.
We’ll be back at the IGA at the end of September we hope. We’ll be asking for holiday foods: canned pumpkin, canned green beans, canned cream soups, stuffing mix, gravy, instant mashed potatoes…as much as we can get for Thanksgiving and Christmas.
Prasida and Bob will be outside the Kingston Walmart on August 13, 14, and 15th again asking for food and funds. Without the generosity of the IGA and the Walmart managment and shoppers, our pantry would be a very different place than it is now.
THANK YOU TO EVERYONE: VOLUNTEERS, STOREKEEPERS, DONORS. We are here today, serving the hungry, because you care.
Thank you for reading this blog/book.
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Thurman Greco
Peace and food for all.
Peace and food for all.
The Wednesday Afternoon Farm Festival in Woodstock
In typical Woodstock fashion, the town fought over the farm festival for years before it finally happened.
FIGHTS LIKE THIS HAPPEN IN WOODSTOCK ALL THE TIME. Every community improvement takes years of fighting before it becomes a reality. And, while this entertains many people, it holds up progress.
Those years of fighting represented lost revenue for a town that really doesn’t have a lot of options for income.
Oh well, I’m getting off track here.
THE WEDNESDAY WOODSTOCK FARM FESTIVAL MEANT SOOO MUCH TO THE PANTRY.
But, not how you might think. Symbolism is important here. As people go down the path toward the pantry, they begin to lose their connection to the community. This happens mainly because they have no money to participate in activities and they’re depressed, embarrassed, sad about being broke, sick, out of a job, going through foreclosure, etc. You put in the words here.
Every situation is different, but the process is the same for the people going down the path.
So, the pantry shoppers, for the most part, didn’t have the money to participate in the farm festival.
MIGLIORELLI FARMS OFFERED A SMALL MIRACLE AT THE END OF EACH MARKET AFTERNOON. Several volunteers from the Good Neighbor Food Pantry were allowed on the grounds in the final few minutes of the market to load up a car with some of the veggies. We then took them back to the pantry and stacked them to distribute on Thursday.
WHAT A GIFT! Migliorelli Farms offered a real emotional boost to our many shoppers as well as delicious, nutritious food. Migliorelli fed the body as well as the soul.
Now, the shoppers at least had a small connection to the farm market festival.
Until…one day a member of the Farmers Market Board of Directors called me up and pulled the plug. “You can’t have any more of the produce Thurman. People are not shopping at the market because they’re waiting until Thursday to come to the pantry to get the food free.”
“HOW CAN THIS BE? The pantry shoppers don’t have the money to shop at the farm festival. Have you seen the people who shop at the pantry?” I was shocked to hear such words from a person who had never set foot in our pantry.
“Don’t even try to talk me out of this Thurman. Our Board voted on this. The Migliorelli food will be donated to an agency in Kingston. It will not be wasted. You will not get any more of the Migliorelli produce.” And, with that, she hung up.
I was stunned. I felt as if someone had hit me.
AND, IT WASN’T THE FOOD THAT DID IT. Our pantry was going to continue to have enough food. The Food Bank offered beautiful, fresh, organic produce every week, all year around. All we had to do was go up and get it. And, go get it we would. Our pantry commitment to fresh produce was serious.
The pantry shoppers, many of whom had absolutely no money at all were being denied participation in a local event that anyone could get in to…all it took was money.
Then, somehow, I’ll never know how, a miracle occurred. Someone (some people) spoke to someone (some people) and attitudes were adjusted.
WE WERE ALLOWED TO GET PRODUCE AGAIN.
I never knew how this happened. And, it doesn’t matter. What matters is that some person (people) fought for the pantry. And, they didn’t care whether anyone else knew what they did. They just wanted the produce to stay in our community. They just did whatever was necessary to get the food to the hungry. Rules were changed. Votes were changed.
FOR THAT, I’M ETERNALLY GRATEFUL.
Whoever brought about this change created a positive energy ripple effect.
Whoever brought about this change definitely made me realize that all is not lost in this world.
In spite of this, I never felt comfortable with the farm market food again. I felt each Wednesday’s gift from Migliorelli’s Farms might be the last. I held my breath as Guy drove the van over for the produce. I breathed a sigh of relief when I saw it return with fresh produce.
When the farmers’ market returned the next spring, I waited (quietly apprehensive) to hear words from Rick: “Thurman, Migliorelli is going to share its produce with the pantry this summer”.
Even as I heard those words, I didn’t believe them until I actually saw the produce. I always had a well formed Plan B ready in case we had to start making extra trips to Albany on Thursday morning. The need for fresh produce for our shoppers was great.
For the most part, these people were all in the process of losing so much. It was up to me to keep Thursday produce on the agenda at the pantry.
At the Reservoir Food Pantry, we are extremely proud to have Migliorelli Farms sponsor us. Our shoppers have beautiful, fresh Migliorelli vegetables every week . What a beautiful gift!
Thank you. From the bottom of my heart.
ON BEHALF OF THE MANY SHOPPERS WHO USE THE PANTRY, THANK YOU FOR READING THIS BLOG/BOOK.
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Peace and food for all.
Thurman Greco
