Chris
“Do you need volunteers?” The young man speaking to me was a living, breathing dream for any pantry coordinator:
His hair wasn’t gray. That meant he could probably lift.
He had a car. That meant he could probably haul cardboard to the dump.
I wanted to pinch myself. Was I dreaming?
“Sure, What do you have in mind?” I asked.
“Well, I can probably work one evening a week. I’m ready to get started. What needs to be done?”
After that, Chris showed up every Wednesday and did anything and everything that needed to be done:
mopping the floors.
folding down empty boxes and stuffing them in his jeep until he couldn’t get even one more in the vehicle.
Bringing case after case of canned goods from the storeroom to the pantry room.
Organizing the storeroom.
CHRIS DIDN’T TALK TOO MUCH ABOUT HIS SITUATION. Our culture has this $$$ taboo making it difficult for people in his situation to explain what the real problem is. We’re all ready to bare our souls when discussing sex, crime, illness. But we zip our lips over $$$.
Employers play the taboo card to the max. If the average person in our country only knew how difficult it is for a person to live on a minimum wage, maybe the wages would increase. Meanwhile, the $$$ taboo keeps people from knowing whether Walmart pays better than Target which may or may not pay better than McDonald’s.
MINIMUM WAGE WORKERS HAVE DIFFICULTY GETTING BENEFITS. Overtime, retirement and health insurance are simply not available to most in the struggling class.
Housing poses the biggest obstacle for low wage workers. Many simply cannot afford anything beyond housing and transportation.
Slowly, his story sort of revealed itself over the next few weeks. His job in a big box store in Kingston was an hourly position with neither enough hours or enough wages to buy both rent and food.
HE WAS EVERY WOMAN’S GRANDSON. Peggy assembled his package for take out each week.
We all cheered when he came and were totally grateful for everything he did. We loved Chris. And, as with all things that are too good to be true, he left after a few months to work in another big box store offering more hours and a few more pennies each hour for pay.
Goodbye Chris, we love you – wherever you are.
SEVERAL MONTHS AGO, I WROTE IN A BLOG POST THAT I see the sidewalks of whatever town or city I’m in as nothing more than wards for the untreated mentally ill.
TODAY I WRITE THIS: When I go in a big box store or chain restaurant, I don’t see a person behind the vest or the colorful. What is see, instead, is the collective low wage American worker living in a perpetual state of emergency. Lunch consists of chips or a piece of bread. Home is a car, van, or a sofa somewhere. The loss of a day’s work means no groceries for the next…if there is any money for food after paying the rent and transportation.
POVERTY IN AMERICA IS NOT A SUSTAINABLE CONDITION.
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Thurman Greco
Working in a Small Upstate Community
The little bright green flier on the counter in Bread Alone read: “Business Closing”. The message for us? Make it over to the book store across from the library and buy what never sold during the summer.
THE CUTE LITTLE SHOP NEXT TO THE WINE STORE HAS 12-INCH HIGH ‘FOR RENT’ LETTERS IN THE WINDOW.
BMG GALLERY, AFTER MANY, MANY YEARS MOVED TO BEARSVILLE. My guess is that he’s found a web business niche. But I don’t know that. Anyway, he’s gone and in the gallery now is a bright red-and-white dream named “Woodstock Workplace”.
On the plus side, the corner deli which closed months ago is being refurbished and transformed into an upscale take out place called “Shindig”.
The boutique next door to Joshua’s appears to be in the process of rebirth with a small sign announcing “Little House”.
Also important: The 3 new businesses are still not real estate offices. Real estate offices are wonderful and, over the years, have kept Woodstock thriving with many weekend owners. But, a new deli or boutique will help keep the walking tourists coming for the other businesses still struggling along.
EVERY AUTUMN, WHEN THE LEAVES TURN GORGEOUS COLORS, I LOOK AROUND TOWN TO SEE WHICH BUSINESSES WILL CLOSE. This exercise begins, actually, in the summer. I watch the tourists flock to Woodstock. I never notice what they look like, how old or wealthy they appear, or where they seem to come from. What I see is how many shopping bags they carry as they walk along the street and shop.
On any given day, the most popular product sold in Woodstock seems to be the ice cream at Taco Juan’s. Go Taco Juan!
Michael B. Katz, in his book “The Undeserving Poor” writes about ghettos.
A ghetto is a place where residents leave town for the job they do and buy what they need outside where they live. The wages they bring home are not enough to accumulate.
MUCH OF THE MONEY, RICHES, GOODS, IN A GHETTO BELONG TO OUTSIDERS WHO CONTROL THE LOCAL BUSINESSES. Profits are exported.
While I realize most of the people I know in Woodstock are from somewhere else, I also realize many, many wealthy people have homes in Woodstock. Some of those people even bank in Woodstock. If you don’t believe me, look around at the three banks. Two of them just completed the most extravagant improvements they could imagine on their newly acquired buildings. It was a contest between Ulster Savings Bank and Mid Hudson Valley Federal Credit Union. I think the credit union won.
But, whoever spent the most is unimportant. What’s important here is that a few local residents had jobs for awhile as the upgrades were applied: carpenters, plumbers, pavers, landscapers, painters, security equipment specialists, …
WOODSTOCK IS A COMMUNITY BOASTING THAT OVER HALF OF ITS RESIDENTS ARE WEEKENDERS. They have primary residences elsewhere and leave Woodstock to accumulate more of the wealth they use to live here.
Woodstock is also comfortable for the over-50 crowd. We, many of us, came to Woodstock with our pensions, nest eggs, stock, bonds, and worldly possessions.
PANTRY EXPERIENCE TAUGHT ME THERE IS ALSO A GROUP, A LARGE GROUP OF PEOPLE IN WOODSTOCK WORKING FULL-TIME, YEAR-ROUND, FOR POVERTY-LEVEL WAGES. The basic productive resource of our community, which is gained outside Woodstock, is this labor.
THOSE FORTUNATE TO HAVE JOBS IN WOODSTOCK ARE OFTEN PAID “OFF THE BOOKS”. If they’re lucky, they’re paid “half on and half off”. They make enough money to pay the rent and buy the gas to get to the jobs. There is no over time, no retirement fund, no health insurance.
DESPITE THAT, THEY’RE LUCKY. How can a person survive, let alone thrive, in this situation? It takes 2 steady paychecks just to live indoors.
I don’t know how many employed people in our area are homeless. I’ve read some statistics on the subject but I don’t believe them because I know how difficult it is to get even close to an accurate count. My guestimate is that 10% of the poverty level employed are homeless.
Don’t quote me on that percentage. For that matter, don’t quote anyone else either.
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Thurman Greco
There’s all this Food out There
“While you’re making your way around the room, take what you need of the fresh produce, breads and bakery items. We’ve got potatoes here and carrots, onions, peppers, spinach, salad mix. Take what you can eat in 3 days.
“IS THIS YOUR FIRST VISIT? Welcome! We hope you’ll come every week. That’s how you get the best deals. Come on in. Go around the pantry in a clockwise direction. Begin here with a bottle of water. Now, as you go around the room, can you use a box of cereal? How about a jar of peanut butter? We have some jelly today. Take a jar of mayonnaise, too.”
I was speaking with a new shopper, a young woman who had just come in the door. She was on the verge of tears. I learned the best way to handle this situation was to cheerfully guide her through the room. When a person cried, I treated the event as though everything was normal. And, it was normal to see people crying in the pantry occasionally. If they asked for a tissue, I gave them one. Other than that, I ignored the tears.
“No thanks. I have a jar of mayonnaise at home now. My kitchen is almost totally empty because my husband hasn’t worked in 7 months. I’m completely out of food. But I do have some mayonnaise.”
“Take it anyway. You never know when we’ll get more in.” Back on this wall is the USDA section. Take a can of each type of vegetable or fruit for each person in your household. That means you can take cans of vegetarian beans, refried beans, green beans, corn, peaches, and tomato sauce. How many people are in your household? “There’s me, my husband and our 2 daughters. They’re in elementary school.”
MONTHS LATER HER STORY REVEALED ITSELF. Her husband, badly injured in an accident, may never work again. They sold a piece of land for money to live on. One child has diabetes. Here was a woman struggling against all obstacles to do the best she can to raise her children properly.
I’M ALWAYS PROUD TO CARRY USDA PRODUCTS IN THE PANTRY. When a person’s kitchen is totally empty, it’s a godsend to be able to take several cans of different foods to put on the shelves at home. Our tax dollars are at work here.
Let’s consider the United States Department of Agriculture for a moment. As our country accumulates agricultural surpluses, the food is distributed to those in need. I always get the feeling that our government is embarrassed by this food.
A much better, more mature, more realistic attitude is to realize (understand) it’s impossible to produce only the food we need. It’s better to have too much food than too little.
Droughts and floods work on their own schedules and weather is very difficult to control.
CONSIDER THE ALTERNATIVE: FOOD SHORTAGES.
SURPLUS FOOD HAS A DEFINITE PLACE IN OUR COUNTRY:
Diverting food from landfills offers communities an opportunity to feed people who don’t have any money after paying for housing and transportation to work.
Diverting food from landfills offers communities an opportunity to improve our environment.
Diverting food from landfills offers communities an opportunity to ensure that children do not go to school hungry. This is a major investment in the future because children have a difficult time learning on an empty stomach.
NO ONE IN OUR GREAT NATION SHOULD GO HUNGRY.
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Thurman Greco
In Search Of
Diane slowly walked the two blocks to the pantry every Thursday morning to work in the hallway a couple of hours until she got enough energy to walk home. “Don’t forget your roll of toilet paper, Judith. We’ve got hand cream today. Can you use that or would you prefer tooth paste?”
When she finally couldn’t work in the hallway anymore we had no one for the station, so we relied on Robyn who gracefully sat in front of the Items of Dignity closet and helped shoppers choose needed items. She lived in nearby Mt. Tremper. Her living situation seemed to be somewhat precarious because every few months she looked for a new place to live. I think she lived in her car a couple of times.
During shopping lulls, Robyn addressed envelope after envelope after envelope for the fundraising letters we sent out several times each year. So, really, Robyn worked two jobs in the hallway: Items of Dignity and Fundraising.
One afternoon Robyn came to my home. “Phoebe died yesterday Thurman. I need a place to bury her.” We found a quiet place in my garden under a Japanese Willow. She and Barry dug a grave and placed her beloved cat, wrapped in a rug, in the freshly dug earth. After sprinkling dirt over Phoebe, Barry emptied a large bag of mulch over the grave. I offered a prayer.
The next morning, as I walked by the area, I saw a cross and a little bouquet of flowers on the grave.
Leticia, our 99-pound wonder, seems to the casual observer not to be a candidate for heavy lifting. However, she shows up on Tuesday mornings ready for shelving action. A retired teacher, she doesn’t stock shelves. She packs them. No box is too large, No case is too heavy. A tiny Latina whirlwind, Leticia gives energy to all of us.
Our pantry shed is small so we rely on her expertise to have enough food available for the shoppers on pantry day. When Leticia finishes packing a shelf, we can’t even get a paper clip in the extra space. Go Leticia!
No one wakes up one day and says “I think I’ll go down to the local food pantry and volunteer”. People spending time in pantries, either as volunteers or shoppers, travel down a path to get there. For the most part, the people seek healing on some level:
A job has disappeared and they need a grounding activity as they seek the next job.
They need a respite from another situation.
They need to heal from an illness.
They seek connection to the community.
Food Pantries and Food Banks everywhere rely on the support and dedication of friends and neighbors to keep doors open. When you volunteer to feed the hungry, you share time and talents. Your skills are vital to our mission.
No matter where you live, be it Upstate New York, Southern California or anywhere in between, there’s a Food Pantry or a Food Bank nearby with volunteer opportunities. Chances are pretty good that your schedule can be met. Get involved! You’ll make a difference.
At the Reservoir Food Pantry, we need people to:
organize a food or fund drive during the year to benefit the many households we serve,
drive packages of food to home bound people,
work in the pantry during opening hours,
help prepare mailers which will go out several times during the year (This activity happens during pantry hours at the Reservoir Food Pantry),
work in our new thrift shop.
Volunteers working at the Reservoir Food Pantry, or at the Regional Food Bank of Northeastern New York in Latham, or the Food Bank of the Hudson Valley in Cornwall-on-Hudson, come from all walks of life:
students,
seniors,
business people,
church members,
service organizations.
If you know an employee in an area school, we are looking to organize a school food drive for the Reservoir Food Pantry.
If you’re interested in volunteering, please contact us:
Mary Mazur 518-786-3691×268 is the volunteer coordinator at the Regional Food Bank in Latham.
Jessica Fetonti, 845-534-5344 is at the Food Bank of the Hudson Valley in Cornwall.
Thurman Greco, 845-399-3967 is at the Reservoir Food Pantry.
Now is the best season of the year to volunteer at a Food Pantry or Food Bank. Everyone at these facilities is gearing up for the holiday feeding season so people are needed to sort food for distribution to food pantries, soup kitchens, and emergency shelters. Join in the fun, building teamwork, and giving back to the community all at the same time.
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Peace and food for all.
Thurman Greco
We Got Electricity in the Reservoir Food Pantry!
A lot happened last Saturday. While some volunteers worked at the Boiceville IGA food drive, others were working on the shed:
Wiring installation was completed.
Trak lighting went into the ceiling.
The new second-hand cold case now has a place next to the shelving so we’ll have a place for yogurt and other foods needing refrigeration.
The desk was moved out of the pantry to the new office area.
LET’S CELEBRATE THE FUTURE OF THE RESERVOIR FOOD PANTRY TOGETHER.
While that might not seem like such a big deal for a country pantry shed, it’s a huge event for the coordinator trying to make us winter ready. All in all, it was glorious! After celebrating our first birthday only a couple of weeks ago, we’re thrilled to begin our new year with a fully equipped pantry.
One year ago, we had nothing but a dream. I’m amazed…amazed at what a group of volunteers have accomplished.
We’re ready now. We’re energetic. We’ve got a pantry. We’ve got shoppers. We’ve got volunteers. We’ve got food. We’ve got shelving. We’ve got an entrance ramp. We’ve got heat. We’ve got a refrigerator. We’re hopeful for what is to come. We look forward to a busy and prosperous year as we offer a 3-day-supply of food to hungry people in the area. We strengthen the entire community as we feed the most vulnerable.
PLEASE SHOW US YOUR SUPPORT. Let us know you care about the Reservoir Food Pantry.
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Peace and food for all.
Thurman Greco
Mid Coast Hunger Prevention Program
Food for today, hope for tomorrow.
LOCATED RIGHT IN THE HEART OF BRUNSWICK, MAINE, is a hustling, bustling food pantry/soup kitchen, backpack program, mobile pantry, clothes closet/ furniture distribution center.
It’s easy to find – just go behind Hannaford’s to a group of modern, spacious buildings which were the result of a capital fund campaign about ten years ago. This pantry is nice enough to be the envy of many pantries I’ve seen. It was well planned and appears to be well maintained.
ATMOSPHERE – small town busy. Everyone appears to be grateful to be there. The pantry opens at 11:00 on Monday mornings. Wednesday mornings, Friday mornings, and Saturdays. The soup kitchen is open also so shoppers can get groceries and a meal at the same time.
SERVICE – Shoppers visit the pantry twice monthly. The first pantry week of the month offers each household a banana box of staples. The second pantry day offers a selection of fresh, refrigerated, and frozen vegetables and dairy products which are distributed by client choice.
SOUND LEVEL – The sound level is deceiving. There is a lot going on in this building but the noise level is quite low.
FOOD OFFERED – The selection depends quite a bit on the donations but on the day I visited, there were many gorgeous fresh vegetables to choose from: zucchini, bok choi, lettuce, beets. There was a small selection of yogurt and a good selection of bottled, refrigerated juices and milk. Bread was abundantly available in the pantry room itself as well as on a table in the hallway.
HOURS – This pantry opens Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays, and Saturdays. Each distribution day is about four hours long.
USUAL WAIT TIME – Although shoppers were outside the building before the pantry opened, the wait time is not long.
HANDICAP ACCESS – Yes
TO DONATE TO THIS PANTRY – Send a check to Mid Coast Hunger Prevention Program, Inc., 84A Union Street, Brunswick, Maine, 04011. If you want to make a food donation, the actual location is also 84A Union Street.
PANTRY AFFILIATION – To my knowledge, this pantry is a secular facility.
FINALLY – This pantry/soup kitchen is a lovely facility operated by by over 250 caring staff and volunteers. This is definitely one operation which strengthens the entire community which it serves by feeding those who are the most vulnerable.
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Thurman Greco
“Can I volunteer in your pantry tomorrow?”
“If you’ve seen one homeless person, you’ve seen one homeless person.” – Thurman Greco
“Can I volunteer in your pantry tomorrow? I know about food and can help you.” The man standing before me was short and sturdy, with a gray pony tail…a typical homeless person if I ever saw one. He wore secondhand store denim and had not one ounce of extra weight on him. His boots and backpack were in good condition but definitely not new.
HIS REQUEST REEKED OF HUMBLE. This man had humble down sooo well. Humble is important when a person is homeless and mentally together. The police hassle homeless people so they learn skills to stay out of jail.
A very lose friend of mine, Paul Schmeltzer, once explained two important skills a homeless person needs: the ability to be humble and the ability to remember names and dates flawlessly. Paul could tell me what corner of what city he sat on at 2:15 in the afternoon on the last Friday in August, 2010. “These skills are necessary for a homeless person because if s/he can’t be humble and remember details, then jail time is in the near future”.
For those homeless with mental health issues, details like humble, coherency, an exacting memory are extremely challenging.
But, back to the story.
CAN YOU WORK IN MY PANTRY TOMORROW? How did you know all my volunteers have prior commitments tomorrow? I got excited! I’ve fed over 100 people by myself before, many times. But, volunteers help. Help is help. My pay grade is the absolute lowest in town.
“SURE,’ I SAID. “Love to have you. When you say you know food, what do you have in mind?”
“I’m a vegan. I know about produce. I’ll prep all your fresh food tomorrow.”
Sure, whatever that means. “Great. I’ll see you tomorrow. By the way, my name is Thurman.”
“And, I’m Arlen. Pleased to meet you, Thurman.” With that we shook hands and off he went.
The next day, Arlen walked into the pantry just as I finished stuffing two van loads of fresh produce into the tiny room. Pretty well gone was humble. In its place was a person who obviously knows and loves good quality food. He went to work.
First, he hauled all the boxes of produce back outside the building to the sidewalk where most of the pantry shoppers would wait to get into the building. Then, he arranged the food. Just. So. He made a workstation for himself as he assembled a large, black, heavy duty plastic bag for the inedible produce. A box turned upside down became a prep center, and the produce was neatly placed around him.
Starting with the carrots, he picked up a bunch, carefully removed the tops, then arranged them for shoppers to select from.
He divided bananas into 3 groups: rotten bananas to be discarded, bananas to be used for cooking, and those fresh enough to eat raw. And so he continued until he had prepped, graded, and arranged every fruit and vegetable delivered to the pantry in the vans that day. Arlen examined every leaf, stem, item in every box. He discarded the trash, he arranged all edible fruits and vegetables in gorgeous stacks.
Shoppers in the pantry that afternoon went home (to wherever or whatever that was) with perfect produce: no yellow leaves, no soft spots, no bruises, no tops. Everything was ready to prepare…just as if it had been bought in Gracie Balducci’s or Whole Foods. WOW.
Once, during the pantry food distribution, I quickly went outside the building to check on Arlen…just to see how things were going. “Buenas tardes, Senora. Cual frutas necessitas hoy?”
What? I heard Spanish! Arlen was speaking with a shopper in her native tongue. By the end of the pantry day, he spoke with shoppers in English, Spanish, French, Portuguese, Haitian, Italian, Creole. Arlen was entertaining everyone.
I knew I was going to be taken to the woodshed for allowing the food distribution at the entrance to the building but it was such a gift to the shoppers to receive this beautiful food and to speak their native tongues that I figured early on that I would take the anger and press on.
AND, I DID AND IT WAS WORTH IT. Every bit of it! Months later, they still hadn’t gotten over Arlen’s visit.
Actually, it was visits.
From that point on, whenever Arlen came to town, he worked in the pantry. He made us all feel we were special because our pantry was vegetarian.
Each homeless person is a special personality and has a special situation which s/he deals with.
So, how is Arlen homeless? Well, he moves around a lot and has a selection of friends who host him when he’s in the area. When Arlen arrives, there’s always a flurry of activity because he participates in all the events. Arlen assembled tents and kept the grounds clean when we had our first pantry music festival. .
When Holly Post, his Woodstock hostess, put her house on the market to move to Rosendale, Arlen was upset. “Holly’s got her house on the market and we’re moving to Rosendale” he said with feeling. Wherever Holly goes, Arlen is going too. I’m sure that, although Arlen will miss Woodstock, he and Rosendale will love each other.
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Peace and food for all.
Thurman Greco
FOOD PANTRY BLOG: They Came Up on Bicycles
“EACH OF US IS PUT HERE IN THIS TIME AND THIS PLACE TO PERSONALLY DECIDE THE FUTURE OF HUMANKIND. DID YOU THINK YOU WERE PUT HERE FOR SOMETHING LESS?” – Chief Arvol Looking Horse
SHE HAD A BACKPACK. He had more of a knapsack. They rode over hesitantly, cautiously, on bicycles.
“Hi” I said in my most inviting tone. “Welcome to the pantry. Have you been here before?” Actually, I knew the answer but wanted to help them feel more at ease.
“No.”
“COME ON OVER TO THE TABLE. Sign in. All we need is your name and the number of people in your household. Then, start shopping at the end of the table here and work yourself down the line of food. Take all the produce you can eat in 3 days. We’ve got onions, carrots, greens, oranges, tomatoes. You’ll notice that much of our produce is labeled “organic.” Take one each of the different canned items. Take a can of crushed tomatoes, juice, green beans, organic vegetable stock. Be sure and take some Bread Alone bread.”
They walked over, gently touched the food as if in a museum store. Quietly, between them, they argued over what they could carry home. It seemed to them we were offering more than they could get home.
“How did you hear about us?” I asked? I didn’t expect an answer. They were too uncomfortable. “We hope you’ll come every week. We open every Monday at 2 p.m. And…don’t forget to tell your friends, relatives, neighbors, enemies. We’re brand new here and trying to spread the word.”
A TYPICAL FIRST FIRST, THEY ACTUALLY MANAGED THE EXPERIENCE QUITE WELL.
They finally agreed on what they could carry and headed off home, wherever and whatever that was.
Most people shopping at our pantry can be labeled resource poor. The resource poor routinely choose between food and other necessities:
food and housing payments,
food and medicine/medical care,
food and transportation,
food and gasoline.
People in the resource poor category are also food insecure. They lack, at times, enough food for an active, health life for the household members.
According to the Feeding America survey (I participated in this survey, by the way), about 75% of those shopping at pantries are food insecure and 80% of those households have one or more children.
Food insecurity comes in 2 categories: food insecurity and very low food security, which is a more serious lack of access to food.
When we discuss very low food security, we know that some have limited access to grocery stores. This means their food comes from gas station food markets, convenience stores, and pharmacy grocery shelves.
Woodstock and Boiceville are such places. In Woodstock, two very upscale stores sell organic foods: Sunflower Natural Foods Market and Sunfrost. Both Sunflower and Sunfrost also offer non organic foods of the fresh, frozen, canned, and bagged variety.
Both claim to offer non GMO foods as well although, for the life of me, I don’t understand how a merchant can claim such a thing. Between the two of these stores, Sunflower has more organic produce and food products than Sunfrost.
Woodstock Meats offers products from local farms which, to me, seems to be a more honest label. No one is ever fooled into thinking s/he is getting organic food when the case is otherwise.
The Bear Cub Market next to the Bearsville Post Office is an upscale market offering what the purveyor considers to be the very best available of whatever it is he sells. He stocks his shelves with canned, boxed, fresh, refrigerated products.
Both Woodstock Meats and Bear Cub are totally honest about their products. No one is fooled into believing that something is what it is not.
For those on limited budgets, food is available at the CVS, Cumberland Farms, and Rite Aid Pharmacy in Woodstock.
Olives and the Citgo Station in Shokan out Boiceville way offer foods also.
Olives offers food for humans as well as pets and a small assortment of toys and household items. Yogurt and cheeses are available in the dairy case. They also sell deli sandwiches.
The food mart at the Citgo station across the street carries more beer, chips, candy, and olives than Olives.
Two grocery stores are in the area: Hurley Ridge Market in West Hurley and the Boiceville IGA in Boiceville. For the person whose transportation is limited , these stores are inaccessible.
After Superstorm Sandy, the Boiceville IGA was closed for a couple of months because it had water damage.
But, back to the couple on the bicycles. They shop at the Reservoir Food Pantry often now. They’re much more comfortable with the experience. And, their extremely limited budget has been eased a bit by our offerings.
Peace and food for all.
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Thurman Greco
Think Globally – Act Locally at the Food Pantry
“It doesn’t solve the problem” she said. “We should be solving the problem.”
WE WERE STANDING IN THE HALLWAY OF THE PANTRY. Hungry people jammed the place. Even with the heat turned off, it was warm, just from the body heat of the crowd. Someone had invited her over in hopes she’d see the people and be motivated to write a generous check to the pantry.
THE WHOLE SCHEME BACKFIRED. “There was an ad in the paper on Sunday” she said. “These people should all be out applying for jobs.”
Yeah. Right. We’ll all line up and apply for the job you saw listed, I thought. Besides that, many of these people have jobs. Some of them have more than one job.
“Well, I can see your point,” I replied. Certainly, on some levels, a pantry does not solve the problem. However, there are many problems to be solved when we talk hunger. “Pantries do solve some of the problems.”
Take, for example, the problem of food waste and landfills.
We need to all understand where the food fed to people in pantries, soup kitchens, and shelters comes from. It’s mostly diverted from the landfill. This diversion can reduce the waste stream, thus saving much money on local, state, and national levels. Currently, the amount of food discarded annually amounts to hundreds of billions of dollars according to the recent Feeding America survey.
FOOD SERVED IN OUR PANTRY IS DONATED FROM GROCERY STORES, FARMS, FOOD MANUFACTURERS. It’s delicious, nutritious, beautiful, mostly organic produce which should never have gone to the landfill to begin with.
For the most part, pantry and soup kitchen workers are volunteers doing a necessary job for no money. This is our tax dollars at work.
THE FOOD IS AVAILABLE. The people are hungry. When people shop at a pantry, they may save money which they can later circulate in the community.
Even though many elected officials are very much against SNAP, the funds spent with this program go directly into the community. This is a financial boost that every town, hamlet, and city can use.
WE ARE A NATION WITH FEW PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION OPTIONS. Our country’s oil industry has powerful lobbyists who leverage enough influence so their clients pay no taxes.
To feed the poor of our nation with surplus food offers them the opportunity to put more gas in their cars and get to more of the low-wage jobs they hold down. The trend is toward a person working 2 or 3 jobs. If we are too rough on the poverty stricken struggling people, they won’t be able to get to their jobs and then where will we all be?
We need more pantries to make more food more available. We need pantries in schools, churches, synagogues, town halls, hospitals, anywhere people congregate.
WE WANT TO AVOID HAVING PEOPLE DYING OF HUNGER.
Peace and food for all.
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Thurman Greco
I Need a Gun in the Food Pantry
“There is nothing that can’t be solved by the use of high explosives.” – Joshua Garner
“I’d like to get an application for a gun permit, please.” I said, the only little old gray haired lady in the room. I was finally first in line at the government office at Golden Hill in Kingston.
The counter person, an overweight man in his 50’s, could hardly contain his laughter as he handed me the form. “That’ll be $5 please, miss.”
I handed him the money and started to walk away. Then, I just couldn’t stand it anymore. I turned around to him and said pleasantly “Will you sell me 3 more applications, please? I forgot the girls in my Senior Yoga class asked me to get applications for them, too.”
I pulled out $15 more and put the money on the counter. The man gave me three more applications and then I walked away. I had no idea who I was going to give the applications to but I remembered the old “Alices Restaurant” song about three people or more people doing something and being a movement.
When I got home in Woodstock, Barry was sitting on the sofa surrounded by his cats as he read the latest thriller. “Hi Thurman. How’re you doing?” he asked without looking up as he took a few grapes from a large fruit filled bowl on a table beside the sofa. .
“I WANT TO LEARN TO SHOOT A GUN. I want a gun.” I replied. “I got the application today and I want you to teach me to shoot a gun.”
“What!?”
“I want you to teach me to shoot a gun. I know you can. You didn’t spend all those years sneaking off to the CIA and NSA without knowing how to use a gun. They even gave you a medal or award or something at the CIA once. For all I know, you’re a damn bazooka expert. Maybe I want to learn that too.”
“YOU CAN’T DO THAT! You might accidentally shoot one of the Chihuahuas.”
“Well, I’m tired of asking pantry volunteers to be bodyguards. It’s not safe when I’m working in the pantry after hours. I haven’t felt safe since that incident with Mike and Mike and the air conditioner. And, I’m not one bit afraid of the shoppers.”
“Listen, I know your job is difficuIt Thurman. Not even a Marine drill sergeant would do what you’re doing. But I don’t know about a gun.”
“I know, I know. I should be more comfortable with everything that’s happening. After all, I did live fifty miles from headhunters in Venezuela but that was all a long time ago. This is the 21st century. That Maglite I bought a while back just isn’t the same as a club. I need something more powerful.
“I’ve lived with guns my whole life.” I continued. “My father wore a pistol every day to work in his law office. Everyone in my family carried guns and had rifles in their cars. My grandmother kept a rifle in her bathroom.”
” TG-YOU’RE JUST NOT THE GUN TYPE. I don’t care what you say about your relatives carrying arms. Besides that, I sold my last gun years ago. What about a knife? Let me teach you to use a knife. A good knife will cost much less and you won’t need a permit. You won’t need bullets. It won’t require maintenance. It’ll be easier to carry and use. I’ll give you lessons. Nobody will ever know. Leash up the Chihuahuas. We’re going to Warren Cutlery right now.”
And, so he did. He took me to Warren Cutlery. I held several different knives to see how they fit in my palm. My first choice didn’t pass muster. “That knife is too big and too heavy” Barry said as he pointed to a smaller model. “You need something small enough that you can open quickly. If you’re too slow, your attacker will have you down before you get it open.”
So, I chose a smaller, lighter model that happened to be on sale.
And, off we went. He taught me to use and carry a knife. He taught me how to open it quickly but never bothered with teaching me to close it fast. “That part’s not important” he said as he helped me practice.
And, he was right. A knife is quiet. It weighs less than a gun. I don’t need a permit. I don’t have to worry about shooting one of the Chihuahuas by accident. And, unless I go through a metal detector before I take it out of my purse, no one has a clue. I’m just a sweet little old gray haired lady in a Prius tootling down the road 5 miles below the speed limit.
Before it was all over, he bought me a second knife…a smaller one which I kept open on the counter in the pantry ostensibly to open cardboard boxes.
Thanks for reading this blog/book.
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Peace and food for all.
Thurman
