Do you work at a pantry? Do you shop at a pantry? Do you donate to a pantry? Part 5
UNREACHABLE
“Hi Chris! How’s it going today? Are you busy or what in here? This place is jammed! ”
“Busy as always Thurman. We’ve got melons and a lot of tomatoes today. We’re out of the special HPNAP produce.”
“Listen Chris, it doesn’t matter. Prasida and Francine and I always find something wonderful and magical here every time we come to the Food Bank.”
Prasida and Francine make it their life’s work to get the best possible produce from Latham to Boiceville every Monday morning. These 2 women know food. Each week is a food quest for them.
THIS IS EXACTLY THE SAME SITUATION FOR THOSE SEEKING FOOD FROM A FOOD PANTRY.
And, of course, fresh produce and bakery goods are only part of the picture…Much of what happens is unplanned, haphazard, erratic. No one really complains. After all, we’re getting food, aren’t we? And, none of us has the authority, resources, responsibility, or ideas to improve the system.
IT BOILS DOWN TO THIS: WE AT RESERVOIR FOOD PANTRY:
GET WHAT WE GET
WHEN WE GET IT
HOW WE GET IT.
OUR CLIENTS GET WHAT THEY GET WHEN THEY CAN MAKE IT TO THE PANTRY.
WHEN THEY CAN NO LONGER MAKE IT TO THE PANTRY, WE GET IT DELIVERED TO THEM SOMEHOW.
LARGE DIFFERENCES EXIST IN CLIENT ACCESS TO PANTRIES AND SOUP KITCHENS. There are no soup kitchens in the Reservoir Food Pantry area. If a person out here needs to go to a soup kitchen, the best opportunity is to go to Woodstock on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays at 4:30 pm. That’s when the Daily Bread Soup Kitchen in the back building of Christ Lutheran Church is open. Chances are good that if you don’t live in Woodstock and don’t have the wherewithal to put together a meal at your home (wherever and whatever that is), you aren’t going to have the wherewithal to make it over to Woodstock either.
AVAILABILITY HAS A LOT TO DO WITH ACCESS. Our pantry distributes food 3 days weekly but it’s only open on Mondays in Boiceville. If, for example, you live in West Shokan and have no transportation on Mondays, you aren’t going to make it to our pantry. Unfortunately, this also holds true in urban settings as well.
KINGSTON HAS MANY PANTRIES AND SOUP KITCHENS. There again, you need to be able to get to them when they’re open. Some people simply can’t make it over.
Take, for example, Motel 19, a shelter located at the intersection of Routes 28, 209, and 87 on the edge of Kingston. Without a bicycle or car, a person is looking at a long hike.
Imagine being a young mother with an infant or child trying to get to a grocery store, doctor’s office, pantry or soup kitchen. Imagine walking down a highway with this infant or child in your arms as cars travel faster than 45 miles per hour.
What if there is rain, freezing rain, or a snow storm?
Shoppers in rural areas routinely face transportation difficulties. People travel significant distances. Some walk, bicycle, take the bus, or hitch rides from friends and neighbors.
THE RULE IS THIS: THOSE MOST IN NEED HAVE THE LEAST ACCESS TO TRANSPORTATION.
Reservoir Food Pantry has been designated a mobile food pantry. We deliver food to half of our clients. One stop is a low rent complex for seniors. Another is an intergenerational low rent complex. The remainder of the stops are at individual residences – apartments, homes, rooms, whatever.
As challenging as it is for shoppers to get to the pantry, it’s equally difficult for the pantry volunteers to get to the Food Bank. At Reservoir Food Pantry, we’re fortunate to have dedicated volunteers and a reliable vehicle sold to me by Sawyer Motors at an excellent price. Remove those 2 factors, and the result is a mess.
SOME FOOD PANTRIES HAVE LIMITED FINANCIAL DONORS AND VOLUNTEERS. Some have transportation issues. They may lack produce, baked goods, and other foods necessary for a balanced diet.
The structure of our Food Bank/Food Pantry system is unable to ensure those in the greatest need will have access to food.
The Food Banks of Northeastern New York and the Hudson Valley are focused on developing innovative ways to get the food to the people. A designated truck is driven on a regular route to grocery stores, farms, food manufacturers, and other locations to pick up food and take it to the Food Bank. It is then sorted and made available to pantries.
THE FARM STANDS AT PEOPLES PLACE AND COMMUNITY IN KINGSTON ARE PRODUCTS OF THIS EFFORT.
The Food Bank of the Hudson Valley conducts daily mass food distributions throughout the area where a food bank driver in a semi delivers 12 pallets of food to a central point predetermined by a schedule. The food is then distributed to pantries, soup kitchens, shelters, individual households. Communities receiving these food distributions regularly include communities such as Lake Katrine, Gardiner, Kingston.
We have much needed food going to hungry people. I only wish more of it were going to the more rural locations.
Now that I’m writing a wish list, I wish more pantries would open on evenings and weekends. This is difficult to do, I know. Reservoir Food Pantry is not yet open weekends.
I also wish pantries could give up some of the identification requirements.
JUST FEED THE PEOPLE, YOU KNOW?
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Peace and food for all.
Thurman Greco
The Food Bank of the Hudson Valley has a critical need: Volunteers!
Recent cuts in SNAP (formerly the Food Stamp Program) are forcing more and more people to turn to food pantries and soup kitchens to help feed their families. To meet the increasing need, the Food Bank of the Hudson Valley is finding new sources of donated food. As more food comes into the Food Bank, dedicated volunteers are working overtime to sort it for distribution to nearly 400 emergency feeding programs.
NOW, MORE THAN EVER BEFORE, THE FOOD BANK NEEDS OUR HELP. Both groups and individuals are urged to volunteer to help get this food to those in need. Right now, there are thousands of pounds of food in the warehouse waiting to be prepared for distribution.
YOU CAN VOLUNTEER AT A DAY, EVENING, OR WEEKEND SHIFTS. CALL TROY MARTIN AT 845-534-5344.
Or, email him at tmartin@foodbankofhudsonvalley.org.
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Peace and food for all.
Thurman Greco
Do you shop at a pantry? Do you work at a pantry? Do you donate to a Pantry? – Part 4
PANTRIES OPERATE ON WHAT’S AVAILABLE, NOT WHAT WE NEED.
When I think of the monthly food order…three words come to mind:
Donations
Surpluses
Leftovers
THAT’S WHAT WE GET. The items are lined up on the form emailed to us twice weekly. The form lists available foods in fine print. If the email has fewer than 20 pages, I know I’m in trouble.
For me, the most important section of the list is the USDA section. This category usually takes less than a page. No matter. This is the free food I can order each month.
At the Reservoir Food Pantry, we’re allowed 2 cases of whatever items they have on hand. And, I go for it all. This is what I order first.
Right now, USDA staples include small boxes of raisins, canned cranberry sauce, and canned beans. We’ve had these items for about 3 months running. The volunteers who haven’t been working in the pantry long wonder out loud why I keep ordering these items over and over. What they don’t see, because they haven’t been doing this long enough, is that these items will soon be absent from the list and may never reappear.
IN CONTRAST TO GROCERY STORE ITEMS, WHEN STOCK GETS LOW, A PERSON SIMPLY ORDERS MORE.
SURPLUS FOOD IS AVAILABLE UNTIL IT’S NOT. Surplus food, by its very nature, is only temporary. Nothing is permanent in a pantry. It’s not even long-term. The moral of this story is that, in the pantry world, all good things come to a final end.
Even though I know all good things come to an end, what I cannot say is “when”. The stuff will just, one day, no longer be available.
THIS GIVES THE WHOLE SYSTEM A FRAGILE TONE.
THIS ALSO HOLDS TRUE FOR THE GOVERNMENT FUNDING WE RECEIVE. The numbers of hungry shoppers keep rising. The unemployment funds and food stamps available to the hungry keep shrinking. I expect to wake up one day and read in the New York Times that some senators and congressmen just cut off all the food money for the hungry and homeless.
WE OPERATE OUR PANTRY ON DONATIONS. No salaries are paid at the Reservoir Food Pantry. We ask for every penny we receive and hold food drives monthly to supplement our HPNAP food grant.
There is no funding for overhead, supplies, equipment, gas and auto repairs, insurance. The fact that we’re all volunteers gives the pantry effort a temporary feel. People show up and do the job they do until they don’t show up anymore.
I’m happy with an all-volunteer army although some regular volunteers have questioned my feelings over the years. Everyone working at the pantry is there for a reason. Some don’t even know why they’re doing the job they are doing until later when they look back on that part of their lives.
WE ALL SEEK HEALING AND A PANTRY IS A WONDERFUL PLACE TO HEAL. Volunteers tell me this is an important part of their lives. People shopping at the pantry help out as well. We receive a sense of satisfaction from giving something to others. Reservoir Food Pantry is in a gorgeous area. The food is the best we can find. What more can we ask for?
I’m not threatened by unpredictable funding, precarious food supply, and increasing demand.
We don’t turn anyone away at the Reservoir Food Pantry. We know what it’s like to be hungry.
Peace and food for all.
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Thurman Greco
Do you shop at a Pantry? Do you work at a Pantry? Do you donate to a Pantry? – Part 3
THIS SOUP HAS NOTHING IN IT BUT SALT.
At first, when I was just learning to be a pantry coordinator, I didn’t understand what was wrong. We got in some soup which everyone looked at, read the label, and left on the shelf. So, I asked Barry to visit the pantry.
“WHAT’S THE DEAL WITH THIS SOUP? Most of the people are leaving it on the shelf. There’s only 6 different things they can take home here. Why are they leaving the soup behind?”
“Well, it’s the nutritional content” he said, reading the label. There’s no nutrition. And, everyone knows too much salt is not good.”
I began to watch the shoppers reading the labels and I asked questions. I got an earful of important information from people trying to live on pantry food. I learned several important things:
THOSE SHOPPING IN A PANTRY HAVE LITTLE OR NO MONEY FOR HEALTH CARE/MEDICAL EXPENSES. FOOD IS THE FRONT LINE OF DEFENSE FOR THOSE ON A LIMITED BUDGET. The pantry food is, sometimes, nutritionally inadequate because
there may not always be enough of it
there may not be enough fresh vegetables
everything is canned resulting in high sodium products
there is no real choice.
At the time, there were fewer than 10 items in the pantry to choose from which didn’t offer a shopper enough options to deal with dietary restrictions (celiac disease, hypertension, diabetes), personal preference, and enough variety to offer good nutritional selection.
As a new coordinator, I still didn’t yet know all my options and wasn’t comfortable with the Food Bank system yet. This much I knew:
The food supply I had to choose from was then and is now supply driven instead of need driven. In other words, I can’t order everything the pantry needs at a given time because it’s not always available. Foods available at the Food Bank are donations from grocery stores, farms, food manufacturers.
MUCH FOOD BANK FOOD IS DIVERTED FROM A LANDFILL. In other words, it’s salvage. I order food donated from test marketing disasters, crop overproduction, Food Bank food drives.
MOST FOOD COMING INTO OUR PANTRY ARE NUTRITIONALLY SOUND BECAUSE I WON’T ORDER IT IF IT ISN’T. There are some issues with sodium and fat…but not many.
Several things happened in those early years that I coordinated the pantry. They really helped:
The HPNAP people took a stand against too much salt which I got all excited about. They issued guidelines forbidding agencies to use HPNAP funds to purchase foods have too many grams of salt per serving.
Gradually, as the economy declined, the HPNAP people added other nutritional improvements:
1% milk
Whole grain breads
Lean meats
A minimum 3 -day-supply of food for everyone in the household.
Fresh produce.
THESE GUIDELINES COMPLETELY CHANGED HOW THE PANTRY OPERATED AND WHAT WAS AVAILABLE. IT WAS GLORIOUS!
The pantry offered very little junk food even though there was certainly a lot of it at the Food Bank. The Food Bank accepts donations but that doesn’t mean I have to put the junk food on my pantry’s shelf.
These guidelines and availability are still a reality in the pantry world as our calendar approaches 2015. I leave the junk food off my orders so other coordinators can have it.
And, I’m still grateful for:
crop overproduction
Food Bank food drives
HPNAP guidelines
food that can be diverted from the landfill
generous bakeries
the Farm Stand
the Food Bank truck that’s making the rounds of the grocery stores, farms, food manufacturers so we can have their overage at our food pantry.
Peace and food for all.
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Do you work at a pantry? Do you shop at a pantry? Do you donate to a pantry? – Part 1
HOW MUCH IS ENOUGH?
That question lives in the brain of every conscientious coordinator. It’s impossible to plan for pantry needs with confidence.
Much depends on a coordinator’s attitude. Some feel that all they need to do is get food on the shelves and if the food runs out, well, the food runs out and who cares anyway?
I NEVER BOUGHT THAT LINE.
The building committee of the Woodstock Reformed Church as well as some people in Woodstock felt it was my job to turn people away. They didn’t want too many people in the building and they didn’t want them getting too much food.
“How dare you serve this kind of food to these people?”
“How dare you serve this much food to these people?”
Some people felt shoppers should be limited in how often they could visit the pantry. Once weekly was considered too often. The idea was to prevent people from getting used to the idea of getting food at a pantry.
NO ONE SEEMED TO KNOW WHAT IT’S LIKE TO NOT HAVE ENOUGH MONEY FOR FOOD.
Fortunately for me and for the hungry, the Hunger Prevention Nutrition Assistance Program people stepped in with clear guidelines which appeared gradually over several years:
2005 – We were expected to offer 1% milk.
2008 – Pantries were expected to operate the client choice program.
2009 – Whole grain breads and cereals are to be served.
New York State requires that food pantries serve a minimum 3-day-supply of food for everyone in the household. This supply includes food for 3 meals each day for the 3 days. 50% of the food is to be fruits and vegetables. Each meal is to be composed of 3 of the 5 food groups.
Where pantries come up short in this scenario is the 3-day-supply deal. If we offer a 3-day-supply of food weekly to a family who is home bound or who is totally out of food money, the household will be taking a 3-day-supply of food and stretching it to 7.
If a person lives in an area with several pantries, it’s possible to visit 2 pantries for a week’s worth of food. This is difficult for a family with no funds because it costs more gas to get to 2 pantries. It’s also time consuming. A person doesn’t just run in to a pantry and pick up a few items. Lines are long. Waits are even longer. At Reservoir Food Pantry, we try to keep waits to a minimum by opening as soon as the pantry is set up. (This is usually about 1:00, even though the pantry opens at 2:00)
And what about the households in areas where the pantry only allows them to visit monthly?
“We don’t want these people depending on us for their food.”
“Pantries should only be available for occasional use.”
It’s extremely difficult to offer foods appropriate for everyone in a pantry. This week in the Reservoir Food Pantry, we offered the following choices:
1 cereal
raisins
instant mashed potatoes
canned beans
crackers
rice cakes
tomato base cooking sauce
canned fruit
canned vegetables
spaghetti
On the fresh side, we had eggplants, lemons, potatoes, kale, salad mix, papayas, bananas, onions. apples, pears, squash.
Produce came from Migliorelli’s, Shandaken Gardens, Ulster Corps gleaning, and the Food Bank of Northeastern New York.
Bread came from Bread Alone. Pies came from Meredith’s.
PANTRIES ARE CONCERNED WITH NUTRITION IN TERMS OF SALT, SUGAR, AND FAT.
Whether or not a pantry serves nutritious food depends on whether the coordinator of the pantry knows anything about nutrition. In a pantry, it’s often about choices. If the coordinator doesn’t know or care about nutrition, the food can help keep an unhealthy person sick.
FOR EXAMPLE, MANY SHOPPERS AT RESERVOIR FOOD PANTRY ARE OVER 65. Current statistics show that 1 in 7 seniors don’t even get enough food to eat. When a senior doesn’t get enough to eat, s/he may get sick causing problems for the children and grandchildren.
Reservoir Food Pantry volunteers make an ongoing herculean effort to offer only the best produce to our shoppers. Prasida and Francine drive to Latham every Monday morning and return with about 900-1000 lbs of fresh food – much of which is organic.
AN IMPORTANT FACT: Reservoir Food Pantry is stocked with foods donated to the Food Bank and offered to us rather than foods that we selected. 100% of that food has been diverted from a landfill. The code is expired. Cans are dented. Labels are torn or missing. It’s all been rejected at a grocery store somewhere.
When we can’t get something we need, we rely on fresh produce to fill the gap. We’ll continue to do this as long as we have gas money to get to Latham.
SO WE HAVE A PROBLEM SIMILAR TO THAT OF OUR SHOPPERS. .
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Thurman Greco
But…are they hungry enough?
The “Are They Hungry Enough” issue looms large in food pantry conflicts. The fears boil down to this:
People are going to shop at the pantry when they actually have the $$$ to go to the grocery store.
Riffraff are going to take the pantry food and sell it.
These people wouldn’t need to come here if they managed their $$$ better.
VERY FEW PEOPLE ARE COMFORTABLE WITH THE CONCEPT THAT WE JUST GIVE THE FOOD AWAY…NO STRINGS ATTACHED. The unspoken text is that the hungry, the struggling class, individually and as a group should be punished for being the downtrodden.
Sometimes when I try to sort the issues out in my head, I remember the chicken yard my grandmother had during World War II. Occasionally, when a chicken would become sick, the other chickens would begin to peck at it. If the chicken didn’t get well, it would be pecked to death.
WHEN WE ATTACK THE HUNGRY FOR NEEDING THE PANTRY, WE’RE LIKE THE CHICKENS PECKING THE WEAKEST ONE TO DEATH.
I welcome all shoppers. They don’t have to be destitute although I see many destitute people nowadays.
Pantry shoppers routinely endure:
long lines
uncomfortable waiting conditions
lack of choice
WAITS OUTSIDE PANTRIES ARE USUALLY AN HOUR OR LONGER. At the Reservoir Food Pantry, we advertise our hours as 2:00 to 5:30. The doors actually open a little after 1:00 to a long line of people already waiting.
Shoppers wait outside the tiny pantry whether it’s raining, snowing, or if there are broiling summer temperatures. There is no shade outside our pantry…no protection from the elements.
They wait in this line for access to about 30 different food products. Compare that to a trip to a super market with 10,000 or so items to choose from.
THE PANTRY EXPERIENCE IS THE END OF THE ROAD. People are out of $$$ and need something to eat. period.
And, finally, if I ever could take the attitude that hungry people must have done something wrong and don’t need that kind of food…I remember the first time I naively asked a child in line about Christmas.
SANTA DOESN’T COME TO FAMILIES THAT STAND IN A PANTRY LINE.
THAT IS PUNISHMENT ENOUGH.
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Thurman Greco
Why are they hungry?
RECENTLY UNEMPLOYED
They showed up in the pantry one Wednesday evening. A man, his wife, her mother, two children. A closely knit group, it was this family against the world. It was obvious to anyone in the room who looked that he loved his daughter.
“Welcome. Come on in. Go around the room…..” I gave them the usual spiel. The whole family helped choose food.
As they were leaving, I handed them a flyer about the soup kitchen. Off they went, flyer in hand, to have supper.
Wednesdays became a ritual for them. First, they came to the pantry and then they went to the soup kitchen for supper.
UNDEREMPLOYED/UNDERPAID
For me, she wins the medal for being the most underemployed/underpaid person in Woodstock.
Capable.
Well educated.
Creative.
Industrious.
Beautiful.
Goal oriented.
Excellent people skills.
Talented.
Stuck in Woodstock and almost starving to death, she was evicted at one point and moved in with a friend. She barely makes it from day to day.
DEATH OF A SPOUSE
“I’m so grateful to be here today. I have someplace to go – the pantry. Fred died one year ago today ” she said.
“Thanks for coming by.”
“I just never knew how hard it would be to live alone. I don’t want to go to my children. The food I get here really helps my budget.”
FOOD STAMP CUTS
“Thurman, my stamps have been cut again. I don’t know how I’m going to make it.
I have absolutely no money this month. My car died and I don’t know where I’m going to get the $$$ to fix it. If I can’t get the $$$ to fix it, I can’t buy a a new one.”
ILLNESS
“How are you doing today?”
“Well, I’m here.” The man speaking was dying of a brain tumor. The pain clearly marked his face. “The tumor seemed to be getting larger this week. I go down to the hospital every week for the chemo and they check it out.”
“If you’re ever too tired to come to the pantry, call and we’ll deliver the food to you.”
“No” he said. “I’m going to come to the pantry as long as I can – for the social interaction if nothing else.”
TO SUM THINGS UP, THEY (WE) ARE HUNGRY BECAUSE THEIR (OUR) INCOME, FROM WHATEVER SOURCE, IS NOT ENOUGH TO MEET THE HIGH COST OF LIVING AS A POOR OR DESTITUTE PERSON.
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Thurman Greco
Walmart – November, 2014
This is our last tour at Walmart for the year. We won’t be returning until the new year.
Friday was quite a day: cold, damp, very light traffic.
When we sit at the table on the sidewalk in front of the store entrance, we make eye contact with every person coming in the door. “Hi, we’re with the Reservoir Food Pantry, just asking for a donation of either money or food to feed the hungry.”
With 2 or more of us at the table, it’s hard to miss anyone. People either give a donation, tell us they’ll give when they come out, or decline.
So, this was the scene as we greeted donors Friday afternoon about 4:00. Somehow, we missed one. We didn’t even see her until she was upon us as she was leaving. A slight young woman with shimmery blond hair which hung about shoulder length, she wore a flowing coat, almost a cape…a deeply red cape.
She surprised us as she came out the “in” door with a cart overflowing with food. All of it had been carefully packed so that there were about 5 cans or boxes of food in each bag.
She parked her shopping cart at the side of our table as she quietly said “I hope you can use this food.”
Then, quickly…almost too quickly…she removed her hands from the cart, looked at us with a beautiful smile, and walked away. She seemed to be almost floating. Then, about 50 feet away from our table, she seemed to disappear in a mist that was surrounding her.
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Peace and food for all.
Thurman Greco
Thank you to Pieta and the Ulster County Board of Realtors Community Service Committee.
This letter is to everyone at the Ulster County Board of Realtors Community Services Committee who offer ongoing support our food pantry throughout the year.
Specifically, thank you to:
Jean Semilof – Westwood Metes and Bounds
Pieta Williams – Halter Associates Realty
Mitch Rapaport, Margo O’Bourne, and Victoria Hoyt – Win Morrison
Grace Bowne, Dorcinda Knauth – Weichert Realtors, The Spiesman Group
Steve Hubbard – Steve Hubbard Real Estate
Gillian Harper – Wells Fargo Mortgage
Elizabeth Dolly Decker – Hello Dolly Real Estate
Michele Rizzi – Hudson Valley Federal Credit Union
Nan Potter – Potter Realty.
Pieta, you always make my day better when I came down the stairs to my home and see a bag of goodies: razors, shampoo, feminine hygiene products, tooth paste. These are basics – things most of us take for granted.
But, when a person shops at a pantry, nothing can be taken for granted. People coming to the Reservoir Food Pantry have little and need much.
At the Reservoir Food Pantry, we know items of dignity are important to our shoppers, because these items are simply beyond the financial reach for many. People sometimes go to a pantry when there is absolutely no money in the household.
This is true of all categories:
seniors
homeless
ill
unemployed.
Members of the Ulster County Board of Realtors Community Services Committee, you have an ongoing awareness of the issues confronting poor and destitute people in Ulster County. You demonstrate this throughout the year, as you generously give items of dignity for our pantry shoppers.
As Boiceville’s only pantry, we see a level of need not obvious in a more urban setting.
Thank you to everyone at the Ulster County Board of Realtors.
Peace and food for all.
Thurman Greco
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November, 2014
“Say goodbye to the landlord for me;
Sons of bitches always bored me.” – Guy Clark
Yet another round of food stamp cuts went into effect just a year ago this month. This national event with far reaching repercussions didn’t negatively affect everyone. After all, a person not receiving SNAP card funds wasn’t even affected unless s/he was politically conservative. In that case, November 5, 2013 was a glorious day.
FOR THOSE RECEIVING SNAP CARD FUNDS, THE IMPACT WAS SERIOUS.
Diane, a pantry shopper has been a widow now for a little over 2 years. She depends totally on her low social security check. Her SNAP card allotment was reduced to $45. This $45 is her total food budget. After Diane pays her rent and utilities, she has no $$$ left for food. All the food she eats comes from the SNAP card and a pantry. She purchases her clothes at the Family of Woodstock free store.
Diane’s old car recently needed repairs and she tried to borrow the needed $$$. That never happened so she wisely gave up and moved to Saugerties to be on a bus line. Honestly, I don’t know how she managed to pull off a move. They are very expensive endeavors.
FOR PANTRY VOLUNTEERS, THE NOVEMBER 5TH CUTS BROUGHT DREAD. We know reducing SNAP card benefits isn’t the answer. When people shop for groceries with SNAP funds, they not only offer nourishment to themselves and their families, they bring much needed outside $$$ to the area, which is often depressed.
Many people have financial problems today which they are never going to overcome without a serious change in our country’s attitude toward poverty. People have no $$$ for food because of:
lack of viable employment
high housing costs
high medical costs
Pantry shoppers lack resources to get beyond a chronic condition of lack in their lives. A few people today are rich at the expense of the poor. According to Couleecap, the richest 1% increased their share of total income by 10%, while, on average, the remaining 99% saw their piece of the pie shrink by 1-2%.
As food benefits were gutted on that fateful day in November, pantry volunteers had valid concerns:
THEY FEARED A NEW WAVE OF OVERWHELMINGLY LONG LINES OF HUNGRY PEOPLE.
They feared we would all run out of food for the people and be unable to get enough to feed the ever increasing number.
There was a realization that few understand: it’s been a long time since we really were emergency food providers.
MANY FEARS BECAME REALITY. Pantry shopping has definitely become more popular. Every week Prasida and Francine bring back more and more food and every bit of it is distributed. Sean Bigler records our weekly journey on a chart on the Reservoir Food Pantry Facebook page and on our website.
The Food Banks of Northeastern New York and the Hudson Valley mustered forces to provide enough food every week. They send trucks to farms, grocers, food manufacturers and bring food back for pantries to take to their shoppers. If the hungry can make it to a pantry, they are fed.
POOR AND STRUGGLING PEOPLE HAVE SLIPPED YET ANOTHER NOTCH AWAY FROM THE RICH. I am convinced, every time I open the pantry doors, that there are now 2 Americas: the haves and the have nots.
We recently received a request for statistics:
How many have we turned away?
How long is our waiting list?
THE QUESTIONS WERE ENDLESS, IT SEEMED. Well, we don’t have those statistics in the Reservoir Food Pantry because we feed the people. The weekly trip to Latham continues rain, shine or snow. The monthly food drives at the Kingston Walmart are important for pantry volunteers.
Most weeks we run out of food about the same time we run out of people so we don’t turn anyone away. We offer a heartfelt “thank you” to everyone who donates food to food banks and food pantries.
At the pantry’s close last Monday, there were 4 carrots left over in a small box, and another small box 1/2 filled with green beans.
We cannot do our job week after week without the continued support of:
Migliorelli Farm,
Ulster Corp gleaners,
Shandaken Community Gardens,
Kingston Walmart,
Boiceville IGA.
Father Nicholas at Holy Ascension Monastery shares donated yogurt with our pantry.
Pieta Williams brings items of dignity.
Lisa Library sends new books for the children.
Beecher Smith and John Parete at Boiceville Inn are the reason we have a pantry with shelves now.
LAST MONTH WE SERVED 856 PEOPLE. In September the number was 834. We expect November’s number to be higher. It has never gone down yet. Why should the trend be different this month?
THE ACTUAL NUMBER DOESN’T MATTER. We don’t plan to turn anyone away.
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Peace and food for all.
Thurman Greco
