Resolutions for 2015
The ad in the New York Times read:
Lighten up.
Get to know your neighbors.
Pick your battles.
Although that ad was actually written for the Museum of Modern Art, it could have been written just for us.
Resolutions at the Reservoir Food Pantry scream at us as our shoppers clearly point the way ahead in 2015. We’ve narrowed the choice down to just a few so we can successfully carry them out.
Resolution No. 1 – Lighten up.
And, lighten up we will. We’ve actually begun to do just that. At the end of every pantry day, we have only a few fresh food items left. Last Monday’s pantry ended with 6 squashes and a small bag of spinach. We can’t get much lighter than that.
In 2015, we’ll continue going to Latham weekly and returning with food to distribute on that day to the many who come and those we deliver food to. No longer will we be bringing 5 or 6 of something to the pantry. We’re going to be looking for items that have 80+ available. If we can’t find 80+ of something, it won’t come in the van.
Reservoir Food Pantry food is both a supplement to what people can find in other places and a necessity for those whose income doesn’t last the entire month. We’re not a pantry anymore. We’re a food distribution center.
Resolution No. 2 – Get to know our neighbors.
Although we’ve only been open since 2013 and we’ve had very little “press”, word is spreading rapidly. A pantry is a community within a community. It’s important now for Reservoir Food Pantry to open its doors so everyone in the area knows about us, understands us, knows our mission.
Resolution No. 3 – Pick your battles.
Fighting hunger is not for sissies. The effort required to take on this fight is larger than life almost. The rewards are also larger than life. We need volunteers to help distribute food. Not only do we have more people shopping at our pantry, we also have more home bound people requesting services.
We need people to:
help deliver food to the homebound.
work in the pantry itself on Monday afternoons.
dispose of the mountains of cardboard we generate every Monday afternoon.
bring the monthly shipment over from Kingston.
If you’re interested in working in the pantry, please join us on Mondays at noon at the pantry. Or, call me at 845-399-3967. Those who help in the pantry understand the importance of the work and get much pleasure from it. They realize what they are doing is necessary and they get very attached to the job.
The economy has changed dramatically since 2005. Both Irene and Sandy contributed much to local changes. Food stamp cuts have all but removed any safety net a person may have had.
Reservoir Food Pantry offers a client food distribution system where the hungry shop weekly with dignity for fresh produce, baked breads, and canned and packaged goods. People come to the pantry for healthy foods to sustain themselves and their households. We deliver food to those who cannot come to the pantry.
When we feed people, we strengthen the entire community as we assist those who are most vulnerable.
Thank you for reading this blog/book.
Please share this article with your preferred social media network.
Please leave a comment.
Don’t forget to join the email list.
Peace and food for all.
Thurman Greco
Thurman Greco
Supermarket Abandonment
Woodstock is a food desert. Hard to imagine, isn’t it? Woodstock lacking in anything. After all, 60% or so of Woodstock’s residents are weekenders with homes in the city. They venture up on weekends, hang out and entertain their friends with foods coming from the Sunflower, Sunfrost, the Cub Market. The main ingredient for their meat dishes most often comes from the well stocked Woodstock Meats.
But, what about the rest of the crowd who live here 7 days per week? The lucky ones with working automobiles shop at Hurley Ridge Market on 375 in Hurley, the Price Chopper in Saugerties, or one of the other chains in Kingston: Shoprite, Hannaford’s, Adams Fairacre.
Higher income locals also shop at the Sunflower, Sunfrost, Cub Market. Additionally, they shop in Saugerties or Kingston at Mother Earth’s.
These upscale shoppers, both locals and weekenders, focus their purchases on all natural, organic. Hudson Valley grown food. Popular buzz words are organic, non-GMO, Paleo, free range, antibiotic free, gluten free, hormone free, and…you get the picture.
Those who are not vegetarians or vegans also shop at Woodstock Meats and maybe at Adams Fairacre. The point here is that these shoppers participate in consumption trends associated with their lifestyle and health. And, with the upscale foods available in Woodstock, they’re able to get anything they want, whenever they want it.
The not-so-lucky live a different way. The Woodstock resident without a working automobile shops at the CVS, Rite Aid, Cumberland Farms.
The Woodstock resident without a working automobile gets Sunflower products by diving in the dumpster behind the store and by shopping at pantries located at Family of Woodstock, Holy Ascension Monastery, and in the Woodstock Reformed Church. Some homebound Woodstock residents benefit from Sunflower’s benevolency with produce and bread donated regularly to Meals on Wheels. These meals are delivered to their homes throughout the week for $3.00 per meal.
In years past, the Grand Union was extremely popular in Woodstock. Community groups held raffles, Girl Scouts sold cookies, and neighbors visited with one another while shopping. After snow storms, everyone went to Grand Union, shopped for milk, butter, and eggs, and swapped snow stories.
It was indispensable for the elderly and those without cars. In 2001, the Grand Union closed and CVS got the space. In typical Woodstock fashion, residents took to the streets with demonstrations. But, it was to no avail. On April 11, 2001, Woodstock became a food desert.
The result? Many local people walking on the sidewalks of Woodstock today don’t have enough $$$ to purchase a sufficient supply of nutritious food. Food insufficiency is also known as food insecurity. More people than we realize deal with this situation on a daily basis.
Without access to nutritious food, they suffer from overconsumption. When a person eats too much of the wrong thing and too little of the right thing, hunger, poverty, and diseases such as diabetes overlap and connect.
For those of you who believe the fault is entirely that of the hungry, poverty stricken person: please remember that the community is as much to blame as the individual. People eat what they have access to. They don’t eat what they can’t get. Less prestigious stores in Woodstock offer too few choices of healthy and affordable food. They offer packaged food rich in fat, sugar, salt, preservatives, artificial coloring, artificial flavoring, pesticides.
As the wealthy and privileged shop for the best available food and adapt the latest food and health trends to their diets, the lower, less privileged class is left further and farther behind. They will probably never catch up.
Thank you for reading this blog/book.
Please share this article with your preferred social media network.
Please leave a comment.
Don’t forget to join the email list.
Peace and food for all.
Thurman Greco
Awaken The Connection
PANTRIES CAN BE POWERFUL PLACES. Everyone coming to a pantry needs healing of one kind or another. People come to pantries for just that healing.
The Reservoir Food Pantry offers an opportunity for all of us to find a place of connection and wholeness within ourselves.
This connections makes us aware that what we think and do matters, that our feelings and intentions are important, and that we are not alone or separate. We are not above or below others.
THESE REALIZATIONS CAN BE INCREDIBLY POWERFUL. Once we become more aware, we feel more responsible for our inner growth and for all life around us.
Feeding people and allowing others to feed us makes us know that we are all one huge family on this planet. Knowing this concept can wake up the world.
JOIN US. Work in the pantry, shop in the pantry. Participation in the pantry will allow you to experience deeply your connection to all living beings.
YOUR COMMITMENT TO A PANTRY WILL ALLOW YOU TO JOURNEY DOWN A PATH WHERE WE CAN ALL BE ONE AND DEEPER COMMUNICATION IS A REALITY.
Thank you for reading this blog/book.
Please share this article with your preferred social network.
Please leave a comment.
Don’t forget to join the email list.
Peace and food for all.
Thurman Greco
Dear Neighbor
THIS WEEK WAS GLORIOUS IN THE RESERVOIR FOOD PANTRY. Although the pantry was so cold that the pens froze at the sign-in book, we didn’t even mind. After all, I’m experienced with working in a cold space. The Woodstock Reformed Church was never heated either. So what. It’s better for the produce, don’t you agree?
But, back to the glorious part…our first ever mailer went out this week. Or, rather, the whole project was completed on Tuesday when I took the last load of letters to the Kingston Post Office to the Bulk Mail room.
What a wonderful feeling that was! We’ve been working for months on this mailer. Robyn Daugherty addressed envelopes on many pantry afternoons beginning about last March.
Bonnie Lykes and Felice Castellano took up pen and envelope throughout the summer months. Then, other people joined in at the table and we finally finished the job this week.
Finalists included Louise Cacchio, Garrett O’Dell, Susanne Traub, and Barbara Freisner.
Prasida and I signed the letters.
The entire project was a huge leap of faith. After all, the Reservoir Food Pantry only opened in September, 2013, on Route 28 in Boiceville, when volunteers delivered food to 21 homebound households.. With little to no fanfare, we’ve been growing steadily. The need for a food pantry in our area was great when we opened, and it’s even greater today.
WE SERVE OVER 900 PEOPLE MONTHLY. 40% of those served are homebound residents in the area unable to come to the pantry. Families and individuals visiting the Reservoir Food Pantry weekly come from many different circumstances. Some are single parent families. Some work more than one job and are still unable to buy food after they pay the rent and get the gas to go to work. Some have lost their jobs, their homes. Still others are struggling with life-altering circumstances, be it a health issue, an accident, the loss of a family member, or other personal disaster.
The Reservoir Food Pantry was founded by local residents, Sean Bigler and Bonnie Lykes. We’re fortunate to have the support pf volunteers from the community. There are no salaried employees. We nourish the hungry, both in our pantry and by delivering food to those unable to visit the pantry. We offer canned, packaged food, bread and fresh produce regularly. We also offer a limited amount of items of dignity.
THE PANTRY NEEDS YOUR HELP. Your generosity is appreciated and your gift will be used to directly help neighbors. Please make your check payable to the Reservoir Food Pantry, and mail it to P. O. Box 245, Boiceville, NY 12412.
If you prefer to donate by credit card, please visit our website at www.reservoirfoodpantry.org/donate.
Reservoir Food Pantry, Inc., is a registered 501(c)3 non-profit charity and your contribution is tax deductible to the extent allowed by law.
Peace and food for all.
Thurman Greco
Thanks for reading this blog/book.
Please refer this article to your preferred social media network.
Please make a donation using the donate button on the blog.
Please send a comment.
Don’t forget to join our email list.
Peace and food for all.
Thurman Greco
Charity
You won’t hear statements like these at our food pantry:
“No one coming to our pantry gets food unless I know they really need it. I go to their house and check.”
“We make everyone show ID. We need proof of address, proof of your children.”
“We make everyone show their Social Security card at our pantry.”
FOR ME, THE VERY WORD “CHARITY” IS CREEPY. I’m not in a charitable business. I’m in the business of feeding hungry people food diverted from a landfill.
I love to multi-task and, as a pantry coordinator, I’m really in my element. The pantry I manage feeds all manner of people a 3-day-supply of food. This is delicious, nutritious food, much of which is organic.
Farmers, grocers, food manufacturers, share what they cannot sell. As I distribute all this food – left over because it’s the wrong shape, wrong size, maybe the wrong color – they get a tax break.
Personally, I love the idea that landfills are not getting larger so quickly, that fewer dumpsters and composters are being used. And, at the same time…sick people, old people, unemployed people, homeless people, are not going hungry.
FOR ME, HUNGER IS OBSCENE.
At the Reservoir Food Pantry, we have the least possible eligibility requirements. People coming to our pantry sign their name and check off the number of household residents. That’s it.
(When I had been a coordinator only a few months, someone complained loudly and a fancy USDA inspector drove down from Albany for the express purpose of taking me to the woodshed. That didn’t happen. He approved of the pantry. He carefully explained to me what’s necessary for our sign-in procedures. I’ve followed them ever since.)
Basically, if they’re hungry, we give them the food. Anyone willing to stand in line an hour for food can’t be all that rich.
PANTRIES OFFERING CHARITY HAVE AN ENTIRELY DIFFERENT APPROACH. Once we get into charity, we make the shopper feel:
humiliation
shame
inadequate
powerless
desperate
wounded.
When charity and outreach become a part of the feeding, food workers become possessive of the food. The big question then becomes: “Are you worthy?”
Charity brokers forget the food is not owned by the coordinators, churches, volunteers, board members. It has been entrusted to us to distribute.
OUR JOB IS TO GIVE IT AWAY. At the Reservoir Food Pantry, we understand this concept. We offer, whenever possible, a service preserving dignity.
In our great nation, there is no excuse for anyone to go hungry because our country is oversupplied with food.
When we feed the hungry, we strengthen the entire community.
Thank you for reading this blog/book.
Please refer this article to your preferred social media network.
Please send a comment.
Please don’t forget to join the email list.
Peace and food for all.
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.
Thank you for reading this blog/book.
Please refer this article to your preferred social media network.
Please leave a comment.
Don’t forget to join the email list.
Peace and food for all.
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.
Thank you for reading this blog/book.
Please refer this article to your preferred social network.
Please leave a comment.
Don’t forget to join the mailing list.
Peace and food for all.
Thurman Greco
Food Pantry Blog – Paying It Forward.
For a little over a year now, we’ve asked…and you’ve answered:
We sent out letters last year about this time to congregations in the area. Wesleyan Community Church and West Hurley Reformed Church offered food drives and donations.
The Zen Mountain Monastery sponsored us while we processed the 501(c)3 application.
John Parete houses our Take Out Department.
Beecher Smith hosts our shed on his property and allows us to use his parking lot.
The Wastewater Treatment Plant hosted our canopied pantry all summer as we worked from their beautiful parking lot .
The Olivebridge Library allowed us to schedule speeches to help spread the word.
JOMA lets us hold our board meetings there monthly.
Brad Bernard from the Community Bank is on our board.
Pieta Williams and the Ulster County Board of Realtors Community Service Committee donated Items of Dignity to our pantry.
Board members stand outside the entrance to the Boiceville IGA one Saturday every other month. Everyone shopping on that day shares something with us. Every bit of this food goes to our Take Out department where volunteers prepare packages for home bound households.
The Kingston Walmart hosts us for 3 days every month. The generosity of the shoppers is mind blowing. Again, 100% of this food goes to feed home bound residents.
Esotec Beverages shares its upscale beverages with our pantry. These foods go to our home bound people.
Migliorelli Farms shares produce every week.
Shandaken Gardens delivers produce weekly.
Ulster Corps volunteers bring produce over from gleaning projects.
Finally, after a year and almost a month, everything came together this week. Our pantry is open, it’s operational, everything works, and it’s wonderful! Board Members got the shed/pantry and outfitted it with lights, heat, an entrance ramp.
Today’s pantry shift was a day out of a dream. Everything flowed beautifully. With your support, with community support, we are on a venture that I never, ever dreamed was possible.
Monday afternoon we opened the pantry about 30 minutes early.
And, why not? We were ready. The produce was in. The shelves were stocked. The shoppers were there.
READY. SET. GO.
One senior in 7 does not have enough to eat. We serve more seniors at the Reservoir Food Pantry than we serve adults and children combined. We strengthen the entire community as we assist those who are most vulnerable among us.
Thank you for reading this blog/book.
Please refer this article to your preferred social media network.
Please send a comment.
Don’t forget to join the email list.
Peace and food for all.
Thurman Greco
School Days Are Here Again! – feeding the hungry
NEVER IN MY WILDEST DREAMS DID I EVER THINK I WOULD WRITE THIS BLOG POST. NEVER.
Hunger is a condition. It accompanies malnourishment. As Mark Bittman of the New York Times said: “Hunger can lead to starvation; starvation to death.“
School supplies, school clothes, shoes, coats, sweaters, lunches, snacks.
WHERE ARE ALL THESE THINGS TO COME FROM FOR THE HOUSEHOLD WHERE THE ONLY THING IN ABUNDANCE IS THE INSIDE OF AN EMPTY REFRIGERATOR?
Nationwide, 17 million children go to bed at night hungry. In many of these households, parents and older siblings go hungry so the younger ones can eat.
FOOD INSECURE SCHOOL CHILDREN HAVE A MUCH HARDER TIME LEARNING THAN THEIR WELL FED CLASSMATES. Statistics from the Feeding America survey tell us that one child in five eats only as school. Food Banks try to fill this gap by offering backpack programs in tandem with Food Pantries and Elementary Schools. Lucky is the child leaving school Friday afternoons with a backpack filled with nourishing food to eat over the weekend.
There are few to no Backpack Programs in our area so the volunteers at the Reservoir Food Pantry work overtime to secure enough food for families with school children.
Only 2 weeks ago pantry volunteers were outside the Kingston Walmart for three days soliciting peanut butter and jelly for school sandwiches. These volunteers will return on September 4th, 5th, and 6th to ask for food for school lunches.
On Saturday, September 27th, we’ll be outside the Boiceville IGA asking for food for school children also.
If you can drop by either of these places with a donation, we’ll be extremely grateful. If you can’t make it and want to send a donation, please send it to Reservoir Food Pantry, P.O.Box 245, Boiceville, NY 12412. Either way: dropping by the store or sending a check, we’re grateful. The food will be used to feed hungry children.
CHILDREN LEARN BETTER WHEN THEY RECEIVE NEEDED NUTRITIOUS FOOD.
Thank you for reading this blog/book.
Please post this article in your preferred social media network.
Please post a comment.
Don’t forget to join my mailing list.
Peace and food for all.
Thurman Greco