Do you ever…? 10 questions to ask hungry friends, relatives, neighbors.
Do you ever run out of $$$ to buy the food to make a meal?
Do you ever eat less food than you need because you ran out of $$$ to buy the food?
Do you ever eat less food than you need because you can’t get the food?
Do you ever skip meals because you don’t have $$$ for food?
Do you ever skip meals because you can’t get the food?
Do you ever do without fresh/frozen fruits and vegetables because you don’t have $$$ to purchase these products?
Do you ever go to bed hungry?
Do you ever skip meals so that your children will have enough to eat?
Do your children ever eat less than they need because you don’t have enough to eat?
Do your children ever go to bed hungry?
Each week at the pantry, people line up to file through the tiny room in the shed. Most of them come weekly…as they should. That’s how they get the most food for the time invested. They get a 3-day supply of food which must last a week.
They hold their heads high, chat with neighbors in the line, put on the best face possible. I see them week after week, trying to get food they need at the pantry. I cannot help but have questions. I need to shift the focus from general to specific, nothing more. To me, each person is individual. Each one has unique needs.
As an agency of the Food Bank of Northeastern New York and the Hudson Valley, the volunteers of the Reservoir Food Pantry are trained to feed the hungry a 3-day supply of food to include fresh fruits and vegetables, proteins, whole wheat breads, dairy products. We are extremely proud of the quality of food which we serve to our shoppers.
This 3-day-supply of food includes food for three meals on each of the three days. Each meal needs to offer 3 of the 5 food groups.
We get this food from the Food Bank. Grocers, food manufacturers, farmers generously donate it. For the most part, it’s diverted from the landfill.
In spite of the landfill diversion, the quality of this food is excellent. Much of it, especially the fresh fruits and vegetables, is organic. It is food that all of us who volunteer at the Reservoir Food Pantry are proud to offer.
We serve this food to:
Seniors whose social security is not enough to buy the food they need to eat.
Families whose children need enough to eat so they can learn at school.
Seriously ill people whose income is focused on paying medical bills with no $$$ left for food.
Homeless people with no kitchens.
People living in food deserts who lack transportation to get to a first line grocery store/super market.
When I see these people each week, I cannot help but see that the numbers grow weekly. I am always confronted with one final question:
Why, in our United States of America in the 21st century, are over 49,000,000 people not getting enough to eat?
http://www.reservoirfoodpantry.org
http://www.FoodBankofHudsonValley.org
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Peace and food for all.
Thurman Greco
Summertime
“What’s happened?” she asked with concern in her voice.
“What do you mean? ” I replied.
“What happened to the people?”
“Oh, that. Well, it’s summer.”
What’s happened is that the faces are often different in the pantry in the summer. When you’re living on the edge, when you’re a member of the Struggling Class, the change of seasons counts for a lot.
People who were too sick to make it to the pantry in cold are now able to make it out. How they manage to make it through the winter is a question for me. These shoppers barely get enough to eat as it is. How do they eat over the winter? Humans are not bears and don’t hibernate. What do these disabled do to survive?
And, yet, we have many in this category.
Some can’t make it to the pantry in the winter because their vehicles aren’t winter worthy. Beyond a certain temperature, the cars just don’t work. Then, as spring rolls around, they manage to get them running again to drive to the pantry during the warmer months.
Making it to the pantry in the winter is really difficult for the homeless. Truthfully, I don’t know how some of these homeless live in the winter. How they keep from freezing to death seems to me to be a miracle.
We lose some shoppers also. In the winter, men visit the pantry regularly because they don’t have work. Then, as the weather gets warmer, they find jobs and can’t come to the pantry because they’re working when the pantry is open.
We always miss these guys because they are good volunteers and really make a contribution to the pantry during the cold months.
One staple which carries everyone through challenges is peanut butter. Peanut butter is important to everyone in the Struggling Class.
It is important because it:
can be eaten right out of the jar.
needs no refrigeration.
has a long shelf life.
is not necessary to have teeth in order to eat it.
does not have to be combined with another food in order to be palatable.
is nutritious.
does not usually come in a container requiring a can opener.
is not necessary to cook it.
The only hitch to this whole wonderful story about peanut butter is that most of the time, there is no peanut butter in the food pantry.
The only time we are able to get peanut butter in our pantry is when we are having a peanut butter drive. It’s been months since we’ve had a decent amount, or any amount, of peanut butter.
Can you help?
There are 2 ways you can come to our rescue:
Our pantry is open Mondays from 2 to 4 in the afternoon. I’m usually there by 10:00 am.
On Tuesday mornings from 9:00 to 10:00 we are in the pantry packing the take out bags.
If you live/work in the area and want to bring some peanut butter to the pantry, we’re happy to receive it then.
If dropping the peanut butter off at the pantry is not convenient, we’ll be happy to accept your donation and purchase the peanut butter for the pantry. Please send the check to: Reservoir Food Pantry, P.O.Box 245, Boiceville, NY 12412.
We thank you in advance for this generosity. Currently, we serve over 150 households each week. Everyone needs peanut butter.
Peace and food for all.
Thurman Greco
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Grocery shopping is always a problem for the elderly.
I first met her outside the shed at the Reservoir Food Pantry. A recent widow, I heard her comment “I just never knew how hard it was going to be as a widow.” Her husband died just over a year ago and she’s still making her way toward accepting her new reality.
“I never knew it would be so difficult…being alone like this. I’ll never tell my children I come here. I don’t want them to know.”
As she spoke, she wiped an occasional tear while moving through the pantry line with a group of women, all about her own age. They were choosing corn and apples, squashes, greens, onions, potatoes. As the line snaked forward, she turned her attention to the canned goods: beans, soup, fruits, veggies.
Pat hasn’t made it to the food stamp office in Kingston. For one thing, it’s a good half hour down Route 28. For another, she’s afraid:
of the forms,
the humiliation of being unable to survive on her own,
the long wait in a building she may not even be able to find,
finally, she’s afraid of the whole process which she finds frightening.
Her financial situation isn’t so far from all the other older women in the pantry line. Grocery shopping for the elderly is difficult under the best of circumstances. Getting to the grocery store can be challenging for older people – getting around in the parking lot and going up and down the grocery store aisles is no fun anymore. And, then, when they can’t find what they need, they have to maneuver the muddy parking area and the scary entrance ramp at the pantry. And…we haven’t even discussed the packages yet. They’ve got to be gotten home and in the house (wherever and whatever that is).
Finally, getting high quality, affordable food is more and more difficult as the days go by. And, as difficult as it is for Pat, she’s one of the lucky ones. She’s got a working automobile.
Combine the lack of a working automobile, bad weather, not enough $$$ and you’ve got the makings of a disaster for a senior.
I keep telling everyone who’ll listen that seniors should get their SNAP card, a list of nearby pantries, and their first social security check at the same time. So far, nobody has listened. Of course not. Why should they? We’ve all got gray hair.
Seniors struggle with the big 3:
food
housing
medical expenses.
Forget the extras like clothing. As seniors, we get less, pay more, and go without. When I need something new to wear, I go to the boutique of my closet.
Healthcare costs can be devastating, even to a senior with medicare. Once a person comes down with cancer or other expensive disease, the pocketbook empties pretty fast.
There is real pressure to feed the rising tide of hungry people at every pantry. We get questionnaires periodically from different agencies wanting to know how often we run out of food. How does “weekly” sound?
The Big 3 for pantries include:
high unemployment
widespread poverty
deep cuts in social spending programs.
Pantries, for the most part, are
arbitrary,
subjective,
strongly biased
when it comes to deciding who can and cannot receive food. There are simply too many agencies with too many people standing in line for too little food for any food bank or state office to properly oversee and supervise the selection process.
As far as feeding the hungry, we’re not even coming close to filling the need created by the widespread poverty and deep spending cuts. People in food pantry lines are, in a severe winter, choosing between eating and heating.
Our pantry, housed in a shed, an old green house, and the back of a restaurant is a ragtag emergency food movement which is in reality not emergency at all.
Lines and crowds outside our pantry on Monday afternoons can easily convince any onlooker that the good old U S of A has a food problem.
http://www.reservoirfoodpantry.org
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Peace and food for all.
Thurman
“Are you closing?”
The call came out of the blue. A pantry management person I never, ever hear from called: “Are you closing your pantry? I heard this and I’m not the kind of person to spread gossip, so I’m asking you personally.”
“No. No, the Reservoir Food Pantry is not planning to close” I replied. Actually, I’ve been having people call me for almost a year asking if we’re closing. I always ask everyone who approaches me: ” Who did you hear this from?”
“I don’t remember, Thurman.”
“Well, I sure wish I could get someone to spill the beans because I’d love to call that person up and find out what started this whole rumor.”
If I’ve had this conversation once, I’ve had it a dozen times over the past few months. So, here for all the world to read, is the bald truth. The Reservoir Food Pantry is not closing. Actually, we’re growing like a weed.
Every Monday morning Prasida and Francine go to Latham and return with all the produce they can haul back in our long line van. They, Bob Overton, Garrett O’Dell, and Susanne Traub put it out on tables and serve it to the shoppers. By 4:00, there is usually none left. Fruits, vegetables, pies, cakes, meat, fish, yogurt, eggs, …it’s all gone.
We serve about 100 families every Monday afternoon at 2:00. On Tuesdays and Fridays we deliver food to another approximate 50 home bound households.
We have an annual mailing in which we ask the community to support us financially in our efforts.
We are at the entrances of the Kingston Walmart one weekend every month asking shoppers to help us feed the hungry.
Every other month we are at the entrance to the Boiceville IGA on a Saturday as well.
We recently opened a Capital Building account at the bank.
We are actively involved in disaster preparation activities.
The volunteers of the Reservoir Food Pantry are a group of committed individuals focused on feeding the hungry as a way of celebrating the amazing abundance which is available in our country. Only in the good old U S of A could there be this much food available…just for bringing to pantries.
We are:
your tax dollars at work.
an environmental effort as we intercept food bound for the landfill and bring it to the pantry for distribution.
working together to feed the hungry.
looking for a larger space that is located above the flood plain.
extremely grateful for the opportunity we have to feed the hungry in the Ashokan Reservoir area.
It is an honor and a pleasure for us to be in Boiceville in the little red shed behind Robert’s Auction.
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www.reflexologyforthespirit.com
www.goodmorningwoodstock.com
www.sugarsecurity.com
my.Benefits.ny.gov
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Peace and food for all.
Thurman Greco
An Open Letter to Senator George A. Amedore, Jr.
Dear Senator Amedore
It was so nice to receive your recent letter, Senator Amedore, explaining what the 2015 New York State Budget will mean to me. As a senior living in Ulster County who manages the Reservoir Food Pantry in Boiceville, New York, I am extremely aware of struggles of Ulster County seniors. As you wrote, seniors “have spent their lives and careers here in the 46th Senate District deserve to be able to afford to retire here and enjoy their golden years in the communities they’ve called home for so many years.”
Senator Amedore, I have thought exactly the same thing many times as I distribute a 3-day-supply of food to seniors who don’t have enough $$$ to buy sufficient food with their social security checks.
In your letter, you listed several programs receiving funding that seniors rely upon:
Community Services for the Elderly
Alzheimer’s Programs
LifeSpan for Elderly Abuse, Education, and Outreach
New York Foundation for Senior Home Sharing and Respite
Senior Action Council Hotline
EPIC Program
Enhanced STAR
On behalf of the seniors from your district shopping at food pantries, I thank you for including these services in your budget.
One thing missing in the lineup was any reference to food. This omission is entirely understandable. No one but the seniors understand what a struggle food is for this category of people in our population.
Grocery shopping for the elderly is difficult under the best of circumstances. Getting to the grocery store can be challenging for older people – especially for those living in a food desert. Getting around in the parking lot and going up and down the grocery store aisles is no fun anymore. And, when they can’t find what they need and afford, they have to maneuver the muddy parking lot and the scary entrance ramp of our pantry. And…we haven’t even discussed the packages yet. They’ve got to be gotten home and in the kitchen.
Finally, getting high quality, affordable food is more and more difficult as the days go by. And, it’s even more difficult for those seniors who no longer drive or own a working automobile.
In Ulster County, many seniors residents living in rural areas of the county live in a food desert and are miles from a grocery store offering fresh fruits and vegetables. Volunteers at the Reservoir Food Pantry deliver food packages weekly to approximately 40 households composed of transportation challenged people…many of whom are seniors. Some of these people have no working stoves in their homes.
Many seniors in our pantry line would certainly qualify for SNAP – even in it’s current reduced condition. However, they lack the wherewithal to get qualified. For one thing, it’s a good half hour down Route 28. For another, they are sometimes afraid. They’re afraid of the forms, the humiliation of being unable to survive on their own in the last years of their lives. They are afraid of the long wait in a building they may not even be able to find. In short, they find the whole process threatening.
Seniors struggle for food. Actually, they struggle for what I call “the Big 3”: food, housing, and medical expenses. Forget the extras like clothing. Many seniors get less, pay more, and go without. When seniors don’t get enough to eat (and many do not), they have a tendency to get sick which creates a hardship for their children and grandchildren.
Healthcare costs can be devastating, even to a senior with Medicare. Once a person comes down with cancer or other major disease, the pocketbook empties pretty fast.
In the past, food pantries focused on shoppers in a specific location. We now serve the people who can get to us during our open hours.
At Reservoir Food Pantry, fresh vegetables are important. We recently scrounged $$$ together and bought a used long line van which volunteers drive weekly to Latham for as much produce as we can bring back. We routinely run out.
Our situation is precarious, Senator Amedore. We joke that we’re teetering on homelessness ourselves because we’re housed in a shed on a flood plain. The shed is fine. We’re desperately trying to find a place to move it to so we’ll be out of the flood plain. So far, we’ve had no luck.
-But enough of our woes, Senator Amedore. Thank you for including me in your mailing list. Thank you for the work you are doing for seniors in New York State. Thank you for sharing.
When you’re in your Kingston office on a Monday afternoon, you have an open invitation to visit our pantry. We’ll be honored and pleased to show you around our 12’x16′ shed. We serve over 140 households weekly from this shed. Most of them are seniors.
We do hope you’ll come. We promise the tour won’t take long because our pantry is small. However, the photos will be many and the seniors will be grateful.
Peace and food for all.
Thurman Greco
P.S.-If you ever need any human interest stories, I have many, many, many, and I’m happy to share.
www.nysenior.org
www.myBenefits.ny.gov
www.nysenate.gov/senator/george-amedore
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Other blogs by Thurman Greco:
www.reflexologyforthespirit.com
www.goodmorningwoodstock.com
www.sugarsecurity.com
An Open Letter to Susan Zimet
Dear Ms. Zimet:
Thank you for speaking at the Hunger Conference in Latham on April 11th. You, as well as the other speakers, know the subject well and obviously care about the hunger struggle that many of your constituents face every day.
Thank you for accepting the position of Executive Director of Hunger Action Network New York State. Your energy, intelligence, and savvy attitude will boost the ripple effect of this organization to a new level…something New York State needs.
Finally, thank you for your openness at the conference. When you spoke about young graduates moving in with their parents because they can’t get jobs to pay off their student loans, you were speaking openly about a situation which many are trying to keep quiet.
New found poverty is sometimes a subject which people don’t shout about because they’re embarrassed. The symptoms of this newly found situation are often covered up because the people experiencing it are asking themselves “Where did I go wrong? What did I not do that I should have done?”
I have a name for those in this situation, Ms. Zimet. I call them the Struggling Poor.
We’re experiencing the same phenomena in our part of Ulster County also. Over here in Boiceville, it’s manifesting itself in different ways:
Seniors who never, ever thought about food pantries are now finding themselves in the food pantry line on Monday afternoons at 2:00.
Working people are struggling to buy groceries. They, too, are meeting at the pantry on Mondays at 2:00 if a family members is off work at that time.
Food pantries in the past focused on shoppers in a specific geographic location. We now serve the people who can get to us. Some pantries in cities are open until midnight to serve those who get off work at 11:00 p.m.
And, pantries have our own struggle for food. At Reservoir Food Pantry, fresh vegetables are important. We scrounged $$$ and bought a long line van which volunteers drive weekly to Latham for as much produce as we can bring back. We routinely run out of this fresh food at the end of every pantry shift.
Our situation is precarious, Ms. Zimet. We joke that we’re teetering on homelessness ourselves because we’re in a shed on a food plain. The shed part is fine. We’re desperately trying to find a place to move it where we’re out of a flood plain. So far, we’ve had no luck. The Olive Flood Advisory Committee, Woight Engineering, and the Town Board are doing the best they can with what we all have. But, the writing is on the wall. So far, we’ve had no luck.
But, enough of our woes Ms. Zimet. Thank you for attending the conference. Thank you for speaking. Thank you, very much, for sharing your energy which seems to know no bounds.
If ever you’re in the Ashokan Reservoir area on a Monday afternoon, please visit our pantry. We’ll be honored and pleased give you a tour of our 12’x16’shed. If ever you need a human interest story, I have many to share. I’ve been working in a food pantry for almost 10 years.
Peace and food for all.
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Thurman Greco
www.hungeractionnys.org
Something Every Pantry Needs
TOILET PAPER, TAMPONS, RAZORS
“I’m happy to inform you that the Regional Food Bank of Northeastern New York received a grant from….to assist your program with its food needs. Your agency, Reservoir Food Pantry (2539f), has received….from this award! It is a pleasure to share this good news with you and to know those you serve will benefit from this gift.”
WHEN I GET THESE SURPRISES IN THE MAIL, IT MAKES MY DAY – SOMETIMES MY WHOLE WEEK!
Immediately, I think about all the things I can get for the pantry with this gift:
toilet paper,
tampons,
razors.
This $$$ will be put in our pantry account as a grant to help us get food and other supplies from the Food Bank. This grant is called an “Adopt-a-Program” grant, or AAP for short.
Once the gift is specified for us, the amount goes directly into our line of credit. And, this gift is worth so much more than the amount donated. At the Food Bank, the AAP funds are more valuable than if the $$$ were used at a supermarket. The Food Bank estimates the amount is 10 times more valuable. This grant is very important for getting items of dignity: toilet paper, tampons, razors.
These grants are very important because they free up other funds for pantry projects. With these grants we’ve had $$$ available for other projects in the past months. Because the struggle for food is lessened, volunteers have energy for other activities in the pantry.
We have a new, used, Chevy econoline van which makes food hauling tasks easier for Prasida and Francine.
We received 2 new 20 cubic food freezers which completely upgrade the way we feed the hungry in the pantry.
We’ve brought a grant writer volunteer on board. She’s attending classes, doing research, and has written 2 successful grant requests already.
THE TINY RESERVOIR FOOD PANTRY WAS RECENTLY RANKED THE 9TH LARGEST PANTRY IN ULSTER COUNTY. For me, this is nothing short of amazing. After all, we only opened in September, 2013.
IN SHORT, WE’RE GROWING, GROWING, AND GROWING. We need every dime you can spare.
You can participate in the Adopt-a-Program grants. You can deposit a gift into our AAP account 3 different ways.
One way is to call the Food Bank of Northeastern New York at 1-518-786-3691. When you tell the receptionist you want to make an AAP donation, please specify that you want the funds to be earmarked for the Reservoir Food Pantry #2539f.
You can also go to the Regional Food Bank of Northeastern New York website and donate there. Click on the “Donate Now” button to use the secure online donation form. There you can enter the donation, and direct it to our pantry. You can also, if you prefer, set up recurring donations which will be automatically charged to your account: monthly,
quarterly,
annually.
You can also mail a check to the Regional Food Bank of Northeastern New York, 965 Albany Shaker Road, Latham, NY, 12110. Again, please specify the Reservoir Food Pantry #2539f.
Thank you in advance for your generosity. Remember…your donation of $10 will purchase $100 worth of product for the food pantry.
Peace and food for all.
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Thurman Greco
The Freezers Came This Week!
The freezers came this week! These beauties are 20 cu. ft. upright Frigidaires brought over by Snyder’s. We feel very special here at the Reservoir Food Pantry because they will change life in the pantry as we have known it in the past.
EVERY ADDITION TO THE PANTRY CHANGES LIFE HERE DRAMATICALLY BECAUSE WE’RE SUCH A NEW PANTRY. There’s so much going on over here that I have trouble keeping up.
Since September, 2013, we’ve gone from a homeless pantry whose volunteers delivered food to homeless and home bound people. In the first few weeks we were open, over 40 households found us.
Then, we landed a spot outside the Waste Water Treatment Plant, put up a tent, and served the hungry. I vividly remember the Monday afternoon we served 18 households. “Don’t worry” I told everyone. “In no time at all, we’ll be serving 25.” A couple of people looked at me with expressions of total disbelief.
Yesterday we served over 90 households in the pantry shed.
Two weeks ago we got the dumpster.
So now we’ve got
a shed,
a long line van,
a produce room,
freezers,
refrigerators
a dumpster,
a website,
a facebook page,
a free bookstore compliments of Lisa Libraries,
the best volunteers in the world.
We’ve got other things too but I have trouble keeping up.
iT FEELS LIKE WE’RE BEING HURTLED THROUGH TIME SO FAST THAT ALL OF US ARE JUST BARELY HANGING ON.
Only last week I learned that we’re ranked the 9th largest pantry in Ulster County.
“Is that true?” I thought. We’ve only been open a very short time. How did this happen?
But, back to the refrigerators:
We got them because of a collaborative grant request effort of several area pantries under the direction of Michael Berg at Family and Beth McLendon of UlsterCorp.
But, this isn’t the end of the story. It’s more like the beginning of the story…even though the beginning goes back to about 2007 or so when a HPNAP (Hunger Prevention Nutrition Assistance Program) directive offering preference to refrigerator and freezer requests in pantries in our annual HPNAP grant requests.
HPNAP wants us to use freezers and refrigerators because fresh/frozen food is more nutritious than canned. And, when HPNAP wants something, they usually follow through with funds.
Our little Reservoir Food Pantry in Boiceville routinely offers the absolute best, most nutritious, most delicious food possible for our shoppers…thanks to the freezers which go with our refrigerators. Hungry people shopping at our pantry eat fewer and fewer canned foods, many of which are heavy on salt, and dented.
Instead, hungry people shopping at our pantry choose cheese, yogurt, frozen veggies, fruits, meats. They also choose fresh fruits and vegetables brought down weekly by Prasida and Francine from Latham in our lovely long line van.
They take home eggs, milk, butter, and other refrigerated/frozen foods.
With the freezers and refrigerators, our take out packers don’t worry about running out of canned food. Instead, they go to one of the freezers and choose from the selection there.
This is your tax dollars at work. I say “Let’s all vote a raise for the HPNAP people!”
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Peace and food for all.
Thurman Greco
An Open Letter to Konrad Ryushin Marchaj
It seems only yesterday that we sent you an appeal for support. We were a band of 4 people who barely knew each other, embarked on an adventure. None of us mentioned it, not even to each other…but you were our only hope.
We were processing a 501c3 to open the Reservoir Food Pantry. And, until it came through, we needed a sponsor willing to share theirs. So, you got the letter, and invited us to lunch at Zen Mountain Monastery so we could meet and make our appeal.
We begged, really, but you never let on. We went away that afternoon energized by your openness, professionalism, interest, concern. Eventually you did what you did and we received the support from your group.
You gave us a raft on which we floated until we got our own 501c3 and gained acceptance with the Food Bank.
So, today, as a result of your efforts, there is now a pantry on Route 28 in the Ashokan Reservoir area of Ulster County in Upstate New York serving over 125 households every Monday afternoon. The volunteers at this pantry look forward to serving the hungry for many years to come.
In conclusion: Thank you Konrad Ryushin Marchaj for all you have done for yourself and your fellow man. I saw you change the world around you for the better. That counts for a lot in my book.
I wish you well on your continued journey of spiritual growth. I am proud to have been touched by you. On behalf of all the hungry people we feed each week, I offer gratitude. It has been an honor and a pleasure.
I cannot thank you enough for your trust, your support, and your confidence in our humble venture.
Peace and food for all.
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Thurman Greco
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.
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Peace and food for all.
Thurman Greco
Thurman Greco
