Food Pantry Blog – The Pantry Needs a Refrigerator
I dread talking about politics because I don’t like politics. Never have. Never will. Don’t understand it. Don’t trust it. Politics scares me.” – Kathy Bates>
As I attended classes in Latham, I became more aware of the nutritional needs of the shoppers. One thing I learned: eggs are important.
Eggs offer a lot of nutrition in a small package.
Eggs cook quickly.
Eggs can be prepared in many ways so they’re adaptable to many kinds of cooking environments.
Eggs are acceptable to many different palettes, dietary needs, and food preferences.
Eggs are easy to store.
Eggs don’t take a lot of space.
Eggs are not heavy to carry.
Eggs can be taken right home (whatever and wherever that is) and cooked, safely eaten even if there is no refrigerator.
The one drawback to eggs is that they need to be refrigerated in a pantry. That was a real obstacle in our pantry because we had no refrigerator.
Solution? Get a refrigerator.
Several people offered refrigerators and freezers to the pantry. For the first couple of years I was the coordinator, I declined these offers because there was no space in the building. We had no storeroom and the room itself was just too small.
So…I sought a storage place for our new refrigerator. I planned to store the eggs in the refrigerator and then bring them over to the pantry right before opening time.
I began to contact people I knew in town who might help. After all, I was an officer in the Woodstock Democratic Committee. I had helped several of these people get elected. Maybe I could get help from a local politician:
“Hello Angela. How are you doing? Can you put me through to Jeff Moran? Thanks.”
Please follow this story on the next several posts.
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Peace and food for all.
Thurman Greco
Food Pantry Blog: Guidelines for a Successful Pantry Visit
“But the most careful lives can be derailed – by cancer, a huge medical bill, a freak slap of weather, a massive failure of the potato crop. Virtue cannot prevent a “bad hand” from being dealt. And making the poor out to be lazy, or dependent, or stupid, does not make them less poor. It only makes the person saying such a thing feel superior.” – Timothy Egan
Try to arrive an hour or so before the pantry opens. This makes for a long wait but there’s a better selection right when the pantry opens. Also, while you’re waiting in line, you have an opportunity to make new friends and learn a few new survival skills if you’re new to the pantry experience.
Bring your own shopping bags. Some pantries don’t have enough of these necessary items.
Bring some ID. Some pantries require a lot: picture ID, proof of address, proof that other family members exist. This can be a bit of a challenge if you’re homeless. Two things you need to know: No one can ask to see your social security number. Some pantries require no identification.
Be prepared to wait in a line. Use this time to meet your line neighbors. They can be helpful if you’re trying to navigate your way through Department of Social Services, if you’re being foreclosed on, need your car repaired.
As you wait in line, try to learn how the pantry works from those around you in the line. You’ll want to know how long you’ll be in the shopping room, what foods are usually found on the shelves, what other pantries the people shop at, etc.
Don’t be afraid to let people know you’ve never been to a pantry before.
Once you find a pantry you can use, go every time you’re allowed. With luck, you’ll have a pantry in your area allowing weekly visits. Because pantry shopping takes so much time, shoppers sometimes just don’t go if they still have SNAP card money or if they have a few bucks remaining from a paycheck. Your best bet is to visit a pantry as often as you’re allowed. Most pantries have different food every week and you may miss out on some real savings by not shopping regularly.
Pantry shopping requires a totally new approach to cooking. So does cooking with only an electric skillet or microwave. Some pantries have periodic visits from nutritionists. Don’t be shy about asking him/her for any tips you might be able to use to help this adjustment easier for you. The nutritionist knows a lot about the food you are trying to cook with and s/he can answer any questions you have.
You may see fresh fruits and vegetables you don’t recognize. Be open to new taste experiences. Take the food home, find a cookbook at the library or go on the net and learn how to prepare the food. If you take one new food home each week, your kitchen skills will be vastly different in a year from what they are now.
Be open minded about this experience.
You’re going to be interacting with people you never thought in your wildest dreams that you would be around.
Know that most people in pantries, both volunteers and shoppers, are in a reconstructing and healing mode. We may not know it yet, but life is finally getting better for all of us.
Try to volunteer at your pantry. Volunteering at a pantry or soup kitchen offers you an opportunity to give of yourself. Giving away food and sharing smiles with those around you opens up opportunities you never thought possible. Your life is changing, healing. Give yourself the opportunity to go with this journey.
Sometimes people cry in the pantry. Well, it’s okay. Everyone cries at one time or another in the pantry, including me. This tells us all that the pantry is a safe place to be.
Peace and food for all.
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Thurman Greco
Food Pantry Blog – The Weekly Trip With Prasida, Roseann, Gene, and Earl the Pearl
When you’re feeding the people, you’re feeding God.” – Desmond Tutu
Every Wednesday morning at exactly 11:30, two vans, each filled with about 1000 pounds of fresh produce pulled up to the pantry door. In order to get enough produce to feed the 500 or so shoppers coming to the pantry, one vehicle was driven North to the Food Bank of Northeastern New York in Latham. The other van was driven south to Cornwall-on-Hudson to the Food Bank of the Hudson Valley.
Each Wednesday, I waited outside the Woodstock Reformed Church building with three utility hand trucks to get a head start loading so we could get the food in the pantry room in the time allowed.
We loaded the carts with onions, potatoes, corn, peppers, salad greens, apples, lemons, baked breads and pastries, and, occasionally mushrooms, goat cheese, yogurt and vegetables donated by a farm, restaurant or grocery store. Much of the produce was organic. The Food Banks owned a farm which produced only organic foods and Hudson Valley farmers donated all they could.
Sunflower Natural Foods Market also donated boxes of produce and bread which was brought into the pantry at this time.
Smells of the fresh food immediately filled the pantry, turning the tiny space into a very inviting environment for the shoppers.
As we all worked furiously to get the food placed in the pantry within the time allowed, there were always the same sounds: Gene, a volunteer shouted “Wait! Wait!” to everyone as the carts were rolled into the building too quickly.
Prasida repeatedly yelled out “HaYAH” as she lifted bags or boxes weighing over 100 pounds.
While this happened, Roseann Castaldo reminded us of the time with “Tick Tock – 23 minutes remaining”.
One quiet person in this whole chaotic hour was Earl the Pearl, a homeless man who managed to hitch hike to the building every Wednesday morning about 10:00. Rain, shine, sleet, snow, 100 degree weather, whatever. Earl the Pearl would be propped up on the little bridge rail outside the building waiting for us to get to the pantry at 11:30.
Earl was a very slight man who, until we found a coat for him, didn’t have enough clothes to keep warm in the cold Upstate New York winters. But, no matter. Earl the Pearl was on hand to help get the food into the pantry. He had a positive attitude and loved being useful if even for a few minutes each week.
After being a pantry volunteer for several months, we noticed that his back was straighter, his voice stronger, and his smile bigger. On our way out of the door at 12:29 p.m., we always made sure he had something to eat for lunch as he sat on the bridge until the pantry opened at 3:00.
One of the regular shoppers got to know Earl and they became friendly. The other guy had a shed and Earl moved in!
The pantry room, a small 12′ x 16′ space lined with industrial shelving, was kept as cold as we could make it to keep the produce and pastries as fresh as possible. From April to November, the air conditioner was set at 60 degrees. After that, the room was cold all on its own because there was no heat. Some of the more outspoken volunteers wore two hats in the winter.
I was always cold to my bones with all my fingers frozen in the winter. Never once did I complain for fear one of the shivery volunteers would quit.
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Peace and food for all.
Thurman Greco
Leaving the Past Behind – Karen
Sometimes, leaving the past behind meant leaving the pantry. Karen was a regular volunteer in the pantry.
“Hi. Welcome to the pantry. How’re you doing today? Can you please sign your name here?”
She was always punctual, She was courteous, professional, friendly.
“The line is going fast this afternoon. Also, we’ve got a lot of green beans and organic spinach salad.”
She remembered peoples’ names. In short, Karen was pretty close to being a perfect volunteer. She was a strong supporter of the pantry.
Then, in the fall, I taught a series of Reiki therapy classes to the pantry volunteers. I tried to do this yearly because I felt the Reiki therapy helped the pantry, the volunteers, and me. Besides, I loved teaching Reiki therapy and I loved being with the volunteers as they learned it.
I knew 15 minutes after the Reiki 1 class started that things were going to be dramatically different for her forever.
Everyone who takes a Reiki therapy class experiences a life change. For most Reiki practitioners the change is slow, subtle, gentle. Some aren’t even aware of what’s happening. Karen took the Reiki 1 class. She took the Reiki 2 class. She took the Reiki 3 class. Several months went by and she took one of my advanced classes. Well, Karen could have taught that class hands down. Every subject that I brought up was one that she had experienced.
One afternoon Karen came to say good-bye to the pantry. Her life had been changed by both the pantry and the Reiki therapy. What more could we ask for?
We still occasionally see her. She drops by to volunteer in the pantry when she has a lull in her Reiki therapy sessions with clients.
Thank you Karen for all you give to those around you.
Peace and food for all.
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Thurman Greco
Food Pantry Blog: Leaving the Past Behind – Thurman
In addition to working in the pantry, I was an active democrat and belonged to the Woodstock Democratic Committee. Later I joined the board of Hunger Action Network of New York State (HANNYS).
One afternoon, I interviewed Joel Tyner, a popular political candidate, on Channel 23, our local public access TV station. I was a guest interviewer along with Jeff Moran, Paula Gloria, Randy and Felicia Steel, and a few other local TV celebrities.
Personally, I was flattered that others in the public access TV community felt my skills were good enough to be a guest interviewer.
As it turned out, the interview was not well received by our pantry board’s treasurer, Jim Dougherty. And, to make a point, Jim sent out a letter to many area people about this and resigned. There were several other issues, of course, but the main problem was this interview and the fact that I kept voter registration forms available in the pantry hallway.
He argued that I was threatening the safety of our board and its 501(c)3 designation. Well, Jim was correct that I was threatening the safety of our board designation. He was just incorrect about the details.
Interviewing Joel Tyner, Terrie Rosenblum, his friend Mike Lourenso, Cathy Magarelli, Bill McKnight, Ralph Goneau, Jeff Moran, Jackie Earley, Bill McKenna, Rennie Cantine, or anyone else for that matter, was no threat to the designation. Public access television programs are considered to be public information, nothing more.
Neither was having voter registration forms available in the pantry hallway a political event. In this, Jim simply had not taken the time to distinguish the difference between civic activities and political activities. After all, everyone who applies for a New York State Drivers License is offered the opportunity to register to vote.
If he had looked a bit closer, he would’ve realized that by being a member of the Woodstock Democratic Committee, I was in violation of the political activity section of our designation. As a member of the WDC, I supported and opposed candidates in political campaigns. When I realized this activity was not approved for board members of non-profits, I resigned from the WDC. It took about 2 years before I realized this. Too bad for Jim. If he had been more accurate, I would have resigned a lot sooner.
The truth was there always. I just needed to open my eyes to see the reality.
For me, it was the WDC. For others, it was giving up anger, or drugs, or a whole lifestyle that changed when the house was foreclosed upon, for example.
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Peace and food for all.
Thurman Greco
Leaving the Past Behind…so we can Heal
“Nothing goes away until it has taught us what we need to know.”
– Pema Chodon
All of us, whether we come to the pantry as shoppers or volunteers, or both, are asked by the pantry to leave our past behind. And, of course, that’s different for everyone. But, think about it, how can we move forward into our new lives if we never give anything up?
For some, giving up the past means letting go of the job that was lost, the home, maybe the family, self-esteem, the car, good health, money, insurance, etc.
As we release our past, our baggage weighs less and less. Our prejudices become fewer and fewer. Our fears are often diminished.
Then…we can heal.
Everyone coming to the pantry heals on some level. The community offered by the pantry gives support and approval to people as they climb back on the road to wellness and something offering normalcy.
In many instances, the shoppers become the volunteers or…the volunteers become the shoppers.
The shoppers come to get food and then find out they can volunteer. Volunteering changes them. As a person gives out food, the volunteer makes contact with another person, and is able to smile. The person is drawn out of his/her own problems. In offering a sense of community, the volunteer receives so much more.
Some of these things are very physical, some emotional, and some mental. But, whether the “giving up” experiences are physical, mental, emotional, one thing is certain. All of these experiences have a spiritual aspect.
One of my “giving up” experiences was also very public.
In tomorrow’s post, we’ll continue with the stories of volunteers illustrating the “leaving the past behind” concept.
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Peace and food for all.
Thurman Greco
Food Pantry Blog: The Silver Tongued Devil of the Food Pantry
Bob Otto came to volunteering through the back door. He worked as the sexton of the Woodstock Reformed Church, a job he took very seriously. It was, however, a parttime position and he volunteered at the pantry when he wasn’t working in the building.
Bob unloaded food when we had deliveries.
Bob worked to keep the line together in the hallway.
Bob distributed frozen food in the barn.
Bob raised funds for the pantry one summer at the entrance of the Mower’s Meadow Flea Market. He stood there every Saturday and Sunday selling raffle tickets. Singlehandedly, Box raised over $3,000.
Bob worked at our monthly food drives at the Sunflower Natural Foods Market. He stood at the entrance of the Sunflower with a large milk pitcher and asked everyone who came to the door to make a donation. The people loved it. They walked right up to him with their wallets and purses open.
As volunteers we all had our jobs cut out for us. We called Bob our “Silver Tongued Devil.”
Beyond the work we gave, the pantry encouraged us to leave the past behind. Events in the pantry seemed to demand that we interact closely with people we didn’t even know. Further, the pantry activities orchestrated healing on some level. Then, as this happened, this transformation resulted in a new person.
And, for Bob, this was very real. One day we heard an announcement. The building committee members were unhappy with his performance. Nobody ever determined whether he quit or was dismissed. But what we did determine, however, was that his participation in food pantry activities was smack dab in the middle of the event.
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Peace and food for all.
Thurman Greco
Woodstock, NY
Food Pantry Blog: Tuesdays with the Anderson Center Crew
Tuesday mornings were very special in the pantry. That was when we stocked the shelves for the coming week and also prepared the take out packages for the homebound shoppers.
The Anderson Center for Autism has Community Integration Outings which they operate out of their Lifelong Learning Center in Saugerties. Every Tuesday morning at 10:00 a.m. sharp Nathan drove a large green van with Gary, Jai, Marcos, Mattie, Jonah, Robert, and Isaac to the pantry. They came to stock our shelves with as much food as humanly possible. These young men were always enthusiastic about stocking the shelves, breaking down the boxes, and hauling the food out of the storeroom. They took to their jobs like ducks on a junebug. They finished up what Leticia was unable to complete in the hour from 9:00 to 10:00.
Their job began with Jai bringing out case after case of food from the storeroom.
“What food does the pantry need today Thurman?”
“Jai, let’s start with 10 cases of jelly, 10 cases of peanut butter, all the cases of cereal you can find, and 15 cases of beans.”
After Jai got the cases of food into the pantry, the guys stocked the shelves under Nathan’s direction. Nathan enthusiastically offered individual supervision to each team member.
Marcos and Mattie tore down boxes in the yard outside the pantry. Tony Cannistra always helped with this project. They loaded all the cardboard into Vanessa, the Grand Caravan, to be carried to the dump. Vanessa was always totally packed with flattened boxes at the end of the job on Tuesday mornings.
Everyone worked as quickly as possible. Our job had to be completed by noon because we were required to vacate the building then. At noon the take out volunteers were allowed to pack the canned goods for next week’s bags.
As soon as the shelves were totally stuffed with canned and boxed goods and as soon as all the boxes were broken down, Nathan drove the van around to the building and loaded up a half dozen or so take out bags in the back of the vehicle. Then, off the Anderson crew would go to deliver food to homebound households.
Thank you for reading this post.
Peace and food for all.
Thurman Greco
Woodstock, NY
No Box Was Too Large. No Line Was Too Long.
Our 99-pound wonder, Leticia, seemed to the casual observer to not be a candidate for heavy lifting. However, she always arrived on Tuesday mornings promptly at 9:00 ready for action.
Leticia knew how to stock a pantry, that’s for sure. She would look around the empty pantry room, figure out what was needed on the shelves and proceed to go back to the storeroom and get it. No case was too heavy. No box was too large. Leticia was a tiny Latina whirlwind who gave energy to all of us. She also had a technique for stacking things on their sides so we could get more food on the shelves. The pantry was so small and the hours available to us were so few that we had to be able to get enough of an item on a shelf to last the two days the pantry was open. Leticia worked frantically in the pantry every Tuesday morning stocking as many of the shelves as possible in preparation for the Anderson guys.
When Leticia finished packing a shelf, we couldn’t even get a paperclip in the extra space. Go Leticia!
Thanks for reading this post. Tomorrow you’ll get to know Bad Back Bob.
Peace and food for all.
Thurman Greco
Woodstock
