Salt in the Food Pantry World
If what the historians tell us is correct, people have been eating salt for over 6000 years. They’ve also been using salt in all kinds of industries. And, in fact, only 6% of the salt manufactured in the world today is used for food according to the Maldon Salt Company.
Salt has, throughout time, played a significant part in wars, commerceand religion throughout the world.
In 1930, Gandhi led a march of 100,000 people protesting a salt tax levied by the British.
It is believed by some historians that ancient trading routes throughout the world began when different cultures bought and sold salt.
Salt is used in religious ceremonies in all the major world religions.
Salt is still an important commodity for all of us.
Before the Good Neighbor Food Pantry got sooo crowded and before our time was sooo limited in the pantry, the shoppers got to read the labels on the cans.
This was important for our shoppers. After all, most of them had no health care to speak of. Their only means of caring for themselves was eating properly.
What a challenge in a pantry!
A typical pantry shift included many people reading canned good labels trying to figure out which items had safe levels of salt, sugar, added chemicals, preservatives, hydrogenated fats, artificial colors, flavors, high fructose corn syrup.
One of the basic problems with pantry canned goods was the prevalence of products with outrageous amounts of salt.
We had a number of seniors suffering with hypertension and a low salt food product was important to them.
This issue still exists in pantries to a certain extent even though the Hunger Prevention Nutrition Assistance Program people began limiting the availability of many high salt products on our food order inventory.
Everyone, pantry shopper or not, is encouraged to reduce sodium intake to less than 2300 milligrams a day. That’s about 1 teaspoon. Adults over 50, and people with high blood pressure, diabetes, or chronic kidney disease should reduce the sodium intake to 1500 per day.
So, how can this be done most easily?
EAT FRESH FOODS. THEY ARE LOWER IN SODIUM THAN PROCESSED FOODS. Stay away from cheesy foods (pizza), bacon, sausage, hot dogs, deli meats, canned chili, canned ravioli, and canned soups.
EAT AT HOME. The meals you prepare at home are more nutritious because you’re in control of the ingredients.
EAT PLENTY OF VEGGIES AND FRUITS. Fresh/frozen vegetables and fruits have much less sodium. Try to eat them at every meal.
CHOOSE PRODUCTS THAT ARE LOWER IN SALT. This means choosing fat-free or low-fat milk, yogurt.
Choose fresh meats rather than eating deli meats which have much more salt. Choose unsalted nuts.
FORGET THE SALT. Remove the salt shaker from the kitchen counter and the dining table. Choose spices, herbs, vinegar, lemon juice, pepper instead.
READ THE LABELS ON THE FOOD. Choose foods which are labeled “low sodium”, “reduced sodium” and “no salt added.”
CHOOSE LOW SODIUM CONDIMENTS. Some condiments such as soy sauce, pickles, olives, salad dressings are high in salt. Choose the low sodium variety.
And, of course, it’s all about choice. Choice is a rare commodity if you are shopping in a food pantry because you have no money. (And, why else does one shop in a food pantry?)
Food pantry shoppers have very little control over what they eat because they can’t afford to shop in the grocery store with thousands of choices. Neither can they afford to shop in the farmer’s market.
One way people can help the situation is by donating healthy foods to a pantry. As a donor of food to a pantry, you are the one making the choice. When you choose, for example, to give a low sodium soy sauce to a food drive, you are responsibly choosing a healthier product for someone who has absolutely no money to make such a choice.
Thank you for shopping and donating healthy foods to your food pantry and soup kitchen.
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Peace and food for all.
Thurman
Walmart Saves the Day – Again and Again and Again
We found Walmart by accident. We certainly didn’t start out with Walmart on the list that day.
It was early October. We’d opened the Reservoir Food Pantry just three weeks before and were already realizing how much food and money we were going to need. So…it was time for a food drive.
We needed to bring out the “big guns” as they say in Texas.
Bonnie and Prasida drove over to Kingston to the mall and began the hunt.
First stop: Hannaford’s
“We’re voluntering at a brand new pantry in the area, the Reservoir Food Pantry, and
we want to hold a food drive. Can we schedule a food drive in front of your store?”
“Sorry, it’s against our corporate policy.”
(I do need to relate that Hannaford’s donates food to the Food Banks.)
Second stop: Target Stores
“Sorry, it’s against our corporate policy.”
(Again, Target donates to the Food Banks.)
Third stop: Lowe’s
“Sorry, it’s against our corporate policy.”
So much for the mall and the big box stores. What now?
Prasida and Bonnie called: “Where are we going to go now Thurman? Maybe it’s time to go home and think of another plan.”
“Wait, there’s one more place left.”
WALMART!
“We’re from a brand new pantry in the area, the Reservoir Food Pantry, and we want to hold a food drive. Can we schedule a food drive in front of your store?”
“Sure, let me get my store calendar. When do you want to come?”
What a lifeline! We’ve been soliciting outside the Kingston Walmart for three days in every month since October. Two months we didn’t come (November and December) because the Salvation Army is stationed outside their doors for Christmas.
We stand outside the door with the 21st century version of a tin cup (a large clear plastic jar) and ask everyone who comes into the store for a donation of either food or money.
I have to admit, this is such a positive experience. Little children drop coins in the jar, gruff adults soften up their postures for a moment and share for the hungry. We ask for $1. We are sooo grateful when someone drops in change.
We are sooo grateful when someone drops in $2 or $5 or $20.
The generosity of the Walmart customers and the Walmart management are sustaining our pantry. The Reservoir Food Pantry is thriving because of their trust in us and our pantry. When we make decisions in our board meetings, we are not only making decisions for our shoppers and sponsors, we are making decisions about our pantry knowing that a very large group of people counting on us to feed the most people needy people possible.
This offers an added layer of integrity to the mix.
The donations of the people walking into Walmart to shop have paid for our gasoline to travel back and forth from Latham weekly.
The donations of the people walking into Walmart to shop have paid for our 501(c)3 fees.
The donations of the people walking into Walmart to shop have paid for our office expenses.
The donations of the people walking into Walmart to shop will pay our utilities.
Last Wednesday, I was standing at a table in front of the Walmart alone and for a moment no one was around. Just this huge box store behind me and the gorgeous mountains in front. Quietly, a woman walked up to the donation jar, placed her hands around it and prayed.
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Peace and food for all.
Thurman Greco
Woodstock Commons Then and Now
An institution in Woodstock, the Sunflower Natural Foods Market, sits on the main street in of a piece of property once called Bradley Meadows. Bradley Meadows was a privately owned property allowed for many years by the owners to be natural. Townspeople loved it that way. Wild forest creatures inhabited the place: squirrels, chipmunks, rabbits, migratory birds, wood frogs, spring peepers, newts, American toads, spotted salamanders, and the endangered Indiana Bat. There are even a few stories about a black bear.
Homeless people inhabited Bradley Meadows then also. Quietly, as far under the radar screen as possible, people lived. They pitched tents, or lived under the trees in the woods behind the Sunflower.
These homeless visited the pantry weekly. Between pantry days, it’s said, they dumpster dived for what food they could get.
Several years ago, steps were taken to turn the Bradley Meadows property into an affordable housing site. The Rural Ulster Preservation Company came to town. What a group! No matter what objection anyone raised about the housing project, the RUPCO team overcame it. The Woodstock Commons plan created much dialogue and discussion among some residents.
Some Woodstock residents fight change as aggressively as if their livelyhood depended on it. Historical events include the Woodstock Post Office, and the Cumberland Farms gas station among others. After much noisy back and forth the project eventually gets finished and we all forget there was ever conflict or that anyone even cared. But, it certainly beats boredom.
“They’re going to ruin the traffic in the area.”
“Using all the water is going to be too expensive for our town.”
“That’s a flood plain over there. Nothing should be built.”
“What about the wildlife?”
“Nobody local is going to get to move in. This is going to ruin the town.”
The dialogue could have been summed up as somewhere between “Over my dead body” and “When hell freezes over.”
After much haggling, horse trading, and politicking, the buildings went up on one third of the forested plot. Eighteen acres, designated a Forever Wild Conservation Easement, have nature and interpretive trails. One trail goes to the shopping center where the Sunflower, Rite Aid, and Bank of America are located which minimizes automobile traffic.
These trails have fitness exercise stations. One, an Energi Total Body Fitness System is good for overall fitness. The other station, a Lifetrail Wellness System Exercise Station focuses on fitness for those over 50 years of age.
The construction code is “Green”. Eleven buildings were beautifully laid out on the land, arranged in a circle so residents can connect with one another.
Woodstock Commons is an intergenerational development with two buildings for seniors/handicapped residents. Twelve units are reserved for artists. All buildings are non-smoking. (There is a specified smoking area in the gazebo.) In short, Woodstock Commons is an example of the country’s affordable housing movement. Woodstock Commons is eligible for gold level certification in the US Green Building Council Program.
People filled out applications and turned them in at the Ulster Savings Bank, and the RUPCO office in Kingston. And, finally, in late 2012, the first residents moved in. As each unit became complete, a family moved in. New residents moved in by ones and twos every few days or so until all fifty-three units were filled.
At first, the residents felt as if they were experiencing culture shock. Everyone and everything was new to the space. People moved from Woodstock, Rosendale, Kingston, Saugerties as well as other places. It took awhile to anchor and define the energy of the new community.
A true diverse community, people came from different educational, class, ethnic backgrounds. What they had in common was a desire to meet basic needs. Maslow’s Hierarchy comes to mind here. In many instances, RUPCO was a lifeboat for people who had lost their homes to foreclosure, weather events, etc.
RUPCO is a landlord and sooo much more. The goal is to create lively and active community for the residents.
The hub of the whole community is the Superintendent. Ken has the personality and drive to make the Commons as positive an experience as possible for the residents. He’s well liked by everyone and the grounds and buildings are well maintained. He has his hand in many Commons events. Projects include:
Organic vegetable garden on common property
Local barbecue events for residents
Nature classes with scavenger hunts on the grounds
Art shows
Birthday parties
Dance classes
Crochet classes
Sunday Morning Story Hour
Drumming circles
Holiday dinners for the residents
A real community has emerged as residents get to know one another. Babies have been born. Conversations are taking place over the garden plots, Saturday movies, community meals, and food pantry deliveries.
Even with all of these activities there’s a hunger for more. People are looking for a story teller to visit regularly.
So…we’ve come full circle. It’s rumored that one of the homeless who lived in Bradley Meadows now has a home at Woodstock Commons.
And, what about the wildlife? Some of it is no doubt gone. But, some of it has stayed on to become part of the Woodstock Commons community. New wildlife has arrived. Every time I drive on the grounds I see animals.
The place is beautiful. It makes me wonder what the fuss was all about in the beginning.
What a gift to our community!
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Peace and food for all.
Thurman Greco
A True Story Told Through the Eyes of a Small Town Food Pantry
Recent research shows that many children who do not have enough to eat wind up with diminished capacity to understand and learn. Children don’t have to be starving for this to happen. Even milk undernutrition – the kind most common among poor people in America – can do it.” – Carl Sagan
I feed the unworthy hungry. Week after week, month after month, year after year, they come to the pantry and I feed them.
I give each of them a three-day supply of food which they must make last for a full seven days.
Each month, it seems, the lines get longer. The storeroom gets fuller and fuller on food delivery day until it’s stuffed with so much food that we’re wondering if we can walk in the place. Before the next month’s shipment arrives, the room is empty.
Well, I’m just an out-of-control, stubborn old woman who won’t listen to anyone in the town. I just snub my nose at them and keep on going.
I hear them:
“Thurman, how can you serve food to her? Her son works and she has a car. She shouldn’t get food.”
“Thurman, that woman lives in Kingston. You gave food to a family from Shandaken last week. Our pantry should be for Woodstockers only.”
“Thurman, you are serving entirely too much food to these people. You can’t do this.”
“Thurman, why are you serving fresh fruits and vegetables in the pantry? You shouldn’t do this.”
“Thurman, you’ve begun to open the pantry in the afternoons. Our pantry shouldn’t be open in the afternoons.”
“Thurman, that person’s car is too nice. How can you give food to a person with a car like that?”
“Thurman, you can’t serve this food to these people. They’re going out of here with $70-$80 worth of fresh produce. This is wrong. I’m going to tell Pastor Sonja, Ed Jabbs, and Pastor Bode about this. I’m very close to Pastor Sonja and she’s not going to be happy. You’re feeding the unworthy hungry.”
“Thurman, you’re serving entirely too many people here”.
“Thurman, you’re serving all the wrong people.”
“Thurman, you shouldn’t feed this food to these people. If they’re hungry enough, they’ll eat anything.”
Well, what can I say? I serve them with pride. It’s an honor and a privilege to do this.
And also…I work for the Hunger Prevention Nutrition Assistance Program of New York State. The HPNAP people are my supervisors.
I was trained to serve a three-day supply of food to everyone according to the “Open to the Public” feeding program policy which includes all populations without regard to gender, race, color, ethnicity, age, nationality, citizenship, marital status, sexual orientation, religious affiliation, income, disability, or health status. We do not exclude any population group from receiving services upon first request or repeat visits to our pantry.
A three-day supply of food offers three meals a day for three days to everyone in the household. Each meal includes foods from three of the five food groups.
In all the years, through all the conflict, I was never, ever, able to convince anyone that I had a superior who outranked the building committee of the Woodstock Reformed Church, or the Christ Lutheran Church.
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Peace and food for all.
Thurman Greco
Food Pantry Blog – On Being the Homeless
We all risk being homeless for many reasons: poor credit, poor or no transportation, release from jail/prison, home foreclosure, eviction, lack of availability of suitable housing, substance abuse, lack of ongoing support services, being kicked out of or feeling unwanted at home, domestic violence, gambling, overcrowding, sexual abuse, family breakdown, release from military service, significant illness in the family, abusive relationship, lack of affordable childcare for poor working families, hurricane destruction, fire, poor or no communication tools to include cell phone, computer access, physical address for receiving mail, and on and on and on.
Residents throughout this country in recent years have had personal experiences with hurricane destruction as well as tornadoes, forest fires and other extreme weather events. Cars, homes, businesses were destroyed in these events. Entire communities were destroyed in New York State, for example, because of both Irene and Sandy.
Families were made homeless with no real warning. And, of course, this included the pets.
That raises two questions, as I prepare for the next disaster (which will come on its own calendar, not mine):
How do I deal with a serious weather event where evacuation is necessary?
What am I going to do with my pets?
After every major weather event throughout our country, lost, scared, hungry, possibly ill pets are rounded up by different rescue organizations and shipped to other parts of the country which have not suffered a recent serious storm. Under the best of circumstances, kind, loving people adopt these pets and give them good homes. Under other circumstances, the pets are euthanized.
After each event, much money is spent rounding up the pets, inoculating them, driving or flying them to distant locations where much more money is spent housing the pets and finding them suitable homes if possible.
Much of this money could have been saved if advance preparation had included allowing people to be evacuated with their pets.
I, for one, plan to “go down” with my pets…my three Chihuahuas and my two cats. I’m making advance plans to evacuate with them when it’s necessary. I’m scouting out places two hundred to three hundred miles from Woodstock where I can go and stay with them until we can return after the storm, fire, whatever traumatic event we’re experiencing.
But, the best laid plans are often impossible to carry out. I’m over 70. What if, when the next disaster strikes, I’m unable to leave my home with my pets because I’m unable to drive?
And, right now, I personally know of about two dozen households in the area which are inhabited by just such groups of people. Volunteers deliver food to these households weekly through the Reservoir Food Pantry.
These households, including my own, are not on anybody’s radar screen. We’re not connected to a nursing home, senior housing center, or any other facility where we may be counted. What will happen to us and our pets?
And, those of us in the area of the Reservoir Food Pantry in Upstate New York are not the exception to the rule. We’re not an isolated collection of households. Rather, there are households just like ours throughout this country.
Let’s do some consciousness raising.
Let’s identify ourselves.
Let’s let our legislators know we exist.
Let’s talk with the American Red Cross.
Let’s break the chain of separating people from their pets and then shipping the lost pets off after the disaster is over.
Let’s work to establish guidelines for rescue for ourselves and our pets too.
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Peace and food for all.
Thurman Greco
Food Pantry Blog – Ho Hum, Just Another Pantry Miracle in the Good Neighbor Food Pantry
“You must do the thing you think you cannot do.” – Eleanor Roosevelt
Well, maybe you don’t believe in miracles. I do. I was in denial for the longest time. But, after a while, I had to face reality. There were simply too many coincidences.
One September pantry day the lines were longer than usual and the shelves were emptying out fast. “I think we’re going to run out of food” I mentioned under my breath to Marie Duane, a volunteer from St. Gregory’s Episcopal Church.
“Do we have a plan for this kind of event?” I asked myself.
Just then, as if someone had blown a whistle, a red haired woman drove up in a tan SUV filled with bags of food she had collected from Congregation Agudas Achim in Kingston. Harriet Kazansky unloaded enough canned and boxed food to get us through the day with some food left over!
One December, the week after Christmas to be exact, John Mower drove up with a trunk load of canned vegetables for the pantry in his car. What a gift! Our pantry was totally depleted in December. Then, the next pantry day, along came another trunk load. He finally quit after three trips to the pantry. He filled our shelves for the next pantry day.
One Tuesday morning in the pantry, Peggy Johnson was upset because she didn’t have enough food to prepare the take out bags for the fourteen families she delivered food to. Food had been scarce and this week the take out area seemed to be empty. A large man suddenly walked in the door carrying a very large box filled with canned and boxed items. A Kingston fireman who grew up in the Woodstock area, he made Peggy promise not to tell his name. However, she didn’t have to keep his gift a secret: In one trip down the pantry hallway, carrying a box large enough to hold everything need, he singlehandedly provided all the food for fourteen homebound families that week. Our pantry has never heard from him since.
In the pantry hallway, we had an Items of Dignity closet where shoppers could take a roll of toilet paper and one other item each time they shopped. We were forbidden by the building committee to have clothing in this closet.
As luck would have it, Prasida needed a pair of winter boots. One Wednesday afternoon, I noticed a pair of new boots – in her size. They were hidden in a dark corner of a shelf. One of the volunteers took them off the shelf. “Prasida, can you wear these boots?” Prasida came over the closet, looked them over, and put them on.
“Ahhh – a perfect fit! Thank you Amma! Now I won’t have cold feet this winter in my summer sandals.” Ho Hum. Just another pantry miracle.
At one point, I was reading Doreen Virtue’s book, “Archangels and Ascended Masters.” One night I read about Saint Therese, also known as the Little Flower. The story goes that if one prays to St. Therese, she will send a rose as a sign that the request has been heard. The next day, I found a rose on the pantry floor as I walked in the room.
But the real miracle happened repeatedly in the pantry as the shoppers and volunteers both began to heal and change and grow from the community, their commitment, and the experiences in the pantry. When people first started coming to the pantry, either to volunteer or shop, they were focused inward on their own problems, issues, health, etc. After a short time, they began to focus on their friends in the pantry. They became concerned about something bigger than themselves and their private struggles.
In short, they became new.
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Peace and food for all.
Thurman
Food Pantry Blog – Sue, Mary, and the Seniors Apartment Complex
Sue was a slender, older woman with long gray hair which she wore in an attractive up-do. Sue was a Wednesday afternoon regular. She lived in the Shady area about two miles off 212 on a side road.
So, every Wednesday she walked the two miles to 212 and then hitch hiked the remainder of the way into Woodstock. She left her home in the morning on Wednesdays to get to the pantry on time.
Her shopping selections were always careful because she could only carry so much going home. This translated to small, light weight items: protein bars, one or 2 canned items, packaged dates, Ramen soup, dried milk, pasta.
Then, as dark approached in the winter, she would take her few packages and head back home – hoping, praying for a ride.
There was a seniors’ apartment complex in the forest off Route 28 which we visited weekly. It was a beautiful facility but, boy…what a location. These people, all nineteen households of them, were really isolated from a community. There was no sidewalk to anywhere. And, not everyone had a car (or could even drive anymore, for that matter.) There was a post office about a mile down the road on Route 213. There was also a small Methodist Church near the post office. Boiceville, the nearest town sported an IGA and a pharmacy. These two stores were several miles from the apartments, clear on the other side of the reservoir.
We drove out to the apartments every Thursday afternoon after the pantry closed with fresh produce, canned goods, and some kind of something that we could label “special treat” (although, many times that label was a real stretch.)
I received a call one December 26th from a resident. Judith, one of the residents realized late on the 24th that Mary, her neighbor who no longer drives, was completely out of food. So, Mary went around to her neighbors and also dug in her cabinets for food. She put together a food package for Mary composed entirely of canned and boxed goods which had been brought to the complex and distributed in the weeks before Christmas.
“Thurman, I’m calling to thank you and your team for coming every week to bring food to us out here. It was such a relief to be able to get food together on Christmas Eve to give to Mary. Imagine being out of food at Christmas! Your trips out here mean so much to us. Our nutrition has improved so much in this last year..”
This story on the surface, has a profound meaning. But, the spiritual aspect goes even deeper when we realize that the lady calling me is wheel chair bound. Getting that food for Mary was a real challenge for her, I feel.
And, actually, Mary’s story is not unusual. As people age, they sometimes have difficulty carrying on daily life tasks that younger people take for granted. And, the older person is afraid to reveal the problems to others because s/he is afraid that a move to a nursing home is eminent.
So, the person suffers in silence.
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Peace and food for all.
Thurman Greco
Food Pantry Blog – Peggy’s Take Outs- Meet some of the homebound shoppers at the Good Neighbor Food Pantry
The people who received the food were all in a situation of need.
With homebound people, the longer a person is uninsured, the worse the health becomes. Some people simply can’t get to a pantry. They lack the health and/or resources to leave their homes.
Most, but not all, of the homebound were elderly. Good nutrition is critical to the health and life quality of seniors. Because of issues related to age, including decreased mobility, limited outside assistance and fixed incomes, the elderly can be especially vulnerable to food insecurity and malnutrition.
The elderly poor desperately need to use a pantry. This group desperately resists visiting a pantry as long as possible. The tragedy here is that food pantries are our tax dollars at work. we seniors have paid our taxes all our lives and now we have an opportunity to get a return on the investment.
When a senior citizen doesn’t get enough to eat, the children and grandchildren suffer because the older person ends up ill due to lack of nutrients. It’s estimated that one senior in four doesn’t get enough food to eat. Only 13% of the persons receiving food from HPNAP supported pantries are elderly.
Joyce is a perky 96-year-old who’s lived in Woodstock for years. She has a caregiver every day now but she really can’t go anywhere anymore so the food she receives is important. Whenever we get to her place, the caregiver has her all dressed up to see us. Her feet don’t work anymore but the brain does and she needs the few minutes of socialization as much as the food.
We have one delivery, a Native American woman experiencing mobility problems. Like Joyce she has a walker but life is still difficult. When she sees us coming, she gets behind her walker and struggles out to meet us.
One day she was coming out to meet us as we drove up and I could tell she wasn’t feeling well. Her usual smile was missing. We looked for something to cheer her up. We found it in the meat box. We found a package of ground bison meat. I honestly don’t know where it came from. Nobody had ever seen this item before. Nor have we seen one since. No matter. When Young Hawk saw the bison meat, she smiled. Her struggle became lighter for the moment.
William had a motorized scooter to get around and a walker also. He had lost a leg to cancer and had a prosthesis. William really needed the food delivery…not only for the food but also because of the social aspects of the delivery. We could always tell when he hadn’t had a good week.
Ann, a 90+ year old woman lived alone in her home in the country. She couldn’t drive anymore, so she really depended on the food. Ann’s favorite pastime in the mornings was chopping and arranging her firewood.
Our board voted that we could not deliver food more than 10 miles out from Woodstock. Clearly, we couldn’t serve everyone.
One couple hitch hiked in whenever they could. They were a darling couple, too. She was Elizabeth Taylor beautiful. He had coal black hair, bright black eyes, and Sylvester Stallone features.
He mostly wore a full length coat in the winter over campers clothes. She wore campers clothes as well. Both outfits included practical hiking boots. His jewelry included a knife with a 7″ blade tied to the thigh of one leg.
They lived five or six miles in from Route 28 in the Big Indian area. So…they hiked the five miles on pantry day to Route 28 and then hitched to the pantry.
When we considered that he was terminally ill and she absolutely never opened her mouth, I don’t know how they made it in week after week after week. But they did. They shopped, got what they could carry and headed back out to Route 28 hoping for a ride home.
Thanks for reading this blog/book. We continue with this series for another post.
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Peace and food for all.
Thurman
Food Pantry Blog – Peggy’s Take Outs – Guy, Rich, Jamie, Prasida, Father Nicholas, the Anderson Crew
Peggy organized delivery teams. Guy Oddo delivered food to four clients. Rich and Jamie Allen had a delivery. Prasida Kay had three deliveries. Laura Rose had two deliveries. Father Nicholas had three deliveries. The Anderson Crew had six deliveries.
Andrea from the Food Bank of the Hudson Valley came out one day and spent over two hours conferring with Peggy and answering all her questions.
Peggy had special food sources for her take out clients. Anyone who donated food to the pantry was donating to Peggy’s Take Outs. (So many people were using the pantry that only case lots were used in the pantry room itself.)
Peggy had absolutely no problem calling up a church and asking for food.
“Hello, this is Peggy Johnson. Can I talk with your pantry representative?”
“Hello, this is Peggy Johnson. We’re really short of toilet paper for our shoppers this month. Can your congregation get some toilet paper for our take outs?”
“Hello, this is Peggy Johnson. It’s your congregation’s month at the food pantry. Can you organize an Items of Dignity drive for the pantry? We really need toilet paper, tooth paste, and razors.”
Nothing stopped Peggy.
Not rain
Not sleet
Not snow
Not 100 degree afternoons
Not power outages.
On a couple of occasions when there wasn’t light in the storeroom, Peggy used a spelunker’s flashlight hooked to her head.
Every Tuesday morning, promptly at 9:01 a.m., Peggy walked into the Woodstock Reformed Church hallway and set up long tables along the wall on which would be placed donated food from the Hurley Ridge Market.
By 9:15 a.m., Barry Greco brought the food from Hurley Ridge Market over. There were usually six to ten boxes in his Jeep: fresh vegetables, fruit, bread, and baked goods.
Peggy, Jamie, Prasida, Laura, Amy, Marvalene, and Leticia went to work immediately, working as fast and furiously as possible. By 11:00, every bit of this food would be sorted in bags for delivery to homebound households. The bags had to all be packed and loaded in cars by 11:30 for delivery because the fresh produce had to be removed from the building by noon.
Hallway tables were total chaos on Tuesday mornings. The Take Out team was stationed in front of the tables packing bags with produce, bread, while the Anderson Crew, along with other volunteers, were moving up and down the halls with carts filled with cases of canned beans, cooking oil, mayonnaise, canned fruits, canned vegetables, crackers, cereal, pasta, etc. Leticia worked quickly to get as much food into the pantry room as possible before the Anderson Team arrived but there was always food which still needed to be brought out by the team.
“Look out behind you Prasida!”
“Hey Jamie, here comes a cart!”
“Where are the oranges? My client loves oranges. I know I saw some earlier!”
Empty cardboard boxes piled up. It took several volunteers working together to break them down. Tony Cannistra, Marcos and Jonah from Anderson, Richard Allen, Guy Oddo, Dr. Tom Dallow, and everyone else we could get to do it, broke down boxes and then, finally loaded them into Vanessa.
The fact that there was never an accident with all the commotion in the hallway on Tuesday mornings proves there are guardian angels and they don’t sleep on the job.
By 1:00, we all changed hats. The pantry shelf stockers in the morning became the afternoon take out crew and packed next Tuesday’s bags with cans and boxes.
Peggy supervised every item that went into these bags. It was no easy task.
It didn’t matter to this crew.
This was a very cohesive, dedicated team of people who realized that if the food didn’t go out the recipients wouldn’t eat.
The food went out.
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Peace and food for all.
Thurman Greco
