I Have a Question
“When I drive down Route 28 on Monday, I see a lot of cars at your pantry. I see many people. I have some food pantry questions. Are they from our area?”
My answer: “Yes, they are from our area.”
But, that’s not the right question and it’s certainly not the right answer. The correct answer is that we serve everyone who manages to make it to our pantry…no matter where they’re from.
In our country now, in the U. S. of A., we have people who are hungry. Many of these people work. Many hold down 2-3 minimum wage jobs. Even with these jobs, their minimum wage pay checks don’t have any $$$ for food. So, they come to a pantry for food.
They come to the pantry they can get to…not the one in their neighborhood. And, the reason for that makes a lot of sense. If they live off Route 28 but work in Cairo on Monday, they’ll never make it to the Boiceville pantry on Monday before it closes.
When I worked in the Good Neighbor Food Pantry in Woodstock, there was a volunteer who didn’t agree with this philosophy. A hungry man from Shandaken got a ride into Woodstock and stood in line for food.
The volunteer denied him food. He went away hungry. He came to Woodstock for food because he didn’t have a car and his ride brought him to Woodstock.
Pantries serve the people who can make it to their pantry. At Reservoir Food Pantry we also serve food to home bound households where the residents are transportation challenged.
It’s not where the hungry live that determines what pantry they use. It’s what pantry they can get to.
Food pantries and soup kitchens are our tax dollars at work. The government has decided the hungry should not starve to death. The government has chosen food pantries, soup kitchens, shelters, and halfway houses as places for the hungry to get food.
We don’t ask the address of any of the hungry in our line. Nor do we care.
Our job is plain and simple: to feed the hungry.
For the most part, the food that we serve is food that was destined for the landfill. Most pantry volunteers are just that…unpaid workers concerned about our neighbors, relatives, friends who are not getting enough to eat.
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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.
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Peace and food for all.
Thurman Greco
Mid Coast Hunger Prevention Program
Food for today, hope for tomorrow.
LOCATED RIGHT IN THE HEART OF BRUNSWICK, MAINE, is a hustling, bustling food pantry/soup kitchen, backpack program, mobile pantry, clothes closet/ furniture distribution center.
It’s easy to find – just go behind Hannaford’s to a group of modern, spacious buildings which were the result of a capital fund campaign about ten years ago. This pantry is nice enough to be the envy of many pantries I’ve seen. It was well planned and appears to be well maintained.
ATMOSPHERE – small town busy. Everyone appears to be grateful to be there. The pantry opens at 11:00 on Monday mornings. Wednesday mornings, Friday mornings, and Saturdays. The soup kitchen is open also so shoppers can get groceries and a meal at the same time.
SERVICE – Shoppers visit the pantry twice monthly. The first pantry week of the month offers each household a banana box of staples. The second pantry day offers a selection of fresh, refrigerated, and frozen vegetables and dairy products which are distributed by client choice.
SOUND LEVEL – The sound level is deceiving. There is a lot going on in this building but the noise level is quite low.
FOOD OFFERED – The selection depends quite a bit on the donations but on the day I visited, there were many gorgeous fresh vegetables to choose from: zucchini, bok choi, lettuce, beets. There was a small selection of yogurt and a good selection of bottled, refrigerated juices and milk. Bread was abundantly available in the pantry room itself as well as on a table in the hallway.
HOURS – This pantry opens Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays, and Saturdays. Each distribution day is about four hours long.
USUAL WAIT TIME – Although shoppers were outside the building before the pantry opened, the wait time is not long.
HANDICAP ACCESS – Yes
TO DONATE TO THIS PANTRY – Send a check to Mid Coast Hunger Prevention Program, Inc., 84A Union Street, Brunswick, Maine, 04011. If you want to make a food donation, the actual location is also 84A Union Street.
PANTRY AFFILIATION – To my knowledge, this pantry is a secular facility.
FINALLY – This pantry/soup kitchen is a lovely facility operated by by over 250 caring staff and volunteers. This is definitely one operation which strengthens the entire community which it serves by feeding those who are the most vulnerable.
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Peace and food for all.
Thurman Greco
No Money, No Time In The Food Pantry
Three categories of poor are similar in some ways but very different in others.
However, they really are on the same path when it comes to time and money. These categories are the employed poor, the underemployed poor, and the unemployed poor.
The underemployed poor person has a specific mantra. “Work, work, work.. For all I work, I have absolutely no money and I have no time to eat if I had any money for food.” The woman who always says this when she can get to the pantry works at a health food store, cleans apartments and homes, dog walks, and house sits.
I always hate to hear these words – the people who talk about having no time and no money have no waistlines either. So, when they talk about having no time and no money, they mean it. They mean they have no time to eat and no money to buy the food if they did have the time.
Before 2008, the “no time, no money employed poor, struggling poor” category really didn’t exist in the pantry world.
Now, I see more and more of them every week.
Thank God! At least they’re managing to get some food when they can make it to the pantry.
And me? Where do I fit in all this? Well, more struggling poor means more work for me. More volunteers, more trips to the Food Bank.
It’s called job security.
Peace and food for all.
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Peace and food for all.
Thurman Greco
Motel 19 and The Good Neighbor Food Pantry
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“When we talk cooking and eating, we are talking love, since the entire history of how a family loves – where and how they learned to love can be told in most kitchens.” – Marion Roach Smith
EVERYONE COMING TO A PANTRY TRAVELS DOWN A PATH. For many, this journey is a real load lightener. As the finances erode, the housing goes. And, of course, when the house or apartment goes, most of what was in it, goes too.
Furniture, kitchen items, toys, clothes, tools, garden implements, books, photos, souvenirs – by the timne a person or family gets to Motel 19, things have been slimmed down to a few clothes, a blanket or two, a hot plate, or maybe an electric skillet. Maybe a toy or two if there are children.
ABOUT 40 HOUSEHOLDS ARE LUCKY ENOUGH TO BE IN MOTEL 19. Half of these households are composed of individuals. The other half are families. For the families living in Motel 19, the children are usually eligible for the school breakfast and/or lunch program. But, that doesn’t give them enough to eat at home. And, there’s no lunch program for the adults.
So…it’s off to the pantry.
PANTRIES ARE IMPORTANT FOR PROVIDING FOOD. If someone in a household can get food, bring it back to whatever and wherever is home at the time, prepare it, and serve it, a feeling that some part of the family’s routine has returned to normal. This act of preparing and serving food can be very grounding to everyone in the household.
Soup kitchens are wonderful places for people to eat but can’t substitute for pantries. Pantries are cheaper to maintain, for one thing. A soup kitchen staff, needed to prepare the food, serve it, and clean up after each meal, is more expensive than a pantry staff. Soup kitchens purchase napkins, cutlery, etc. Pantries are generally composed of volunteers. Soup kitchens have paid staff. Soup kitchens are absolutely essential for those who have no kitchens or roof at all.
Because of the cost of gas, several families at Motel 19 pile in a car and come over on pantry day. Or, an individual hitchhikes.
THE PEOPLE LIVING IN MOTEL 19 ARE, ON ONE LEVEL, VERY FORTUNATE because a minimum wage worker can easily work more than a week just to pay the rent on a tiny apartment or room.
Not everyone in a low-income household can get into Motel 19. Low-income wage earners are forced to choose between rent, gas, health care, and groceries. Living in this situation means living with hunger on a daily basis.
Motel 19 is a real lifesaver for many people sent over from the Department of Social Services when they’re homeless. Individuals, couples, families. Each household, whether one person or a family, gets one room at Motel 19. The room is furnished with a single bed, a bathroom, a small refrigerator, a microwave, and a TV. The place is a functioning motel so the residents also get clean towels and sheets weekly.
At one time, Motel 19 had a restaurant on the premises but it’s been closed awhile. Word on the street is that a pizza restaurant is coming soon. There’s a car dealership in the parking area outside the front of Motel 19. Shamrock Sales has about five or six used vehicles for sale. No one seems interested in them.
BAD BACK BOB MADE MOTEL 19 FAMOUS FOR US because, when he began coming to our pantry, he spoke about his neighbors and also brought some of them over to shop. This was a real accomplishment because these people, though very fortunate to be living in Motel 19, are trapped without transportation. Motel 19 is located at the intersection of Routes 28, 209, and 87 on the edge of Kingston. Without a bicycle or car, any person trying to get somewhere is looking for a long hike.
Imagine being a young mother with an infant or child trying to get to a grocery store, doctor, or even a soup kitchen for that matter. IMAGINE WALKING DOWN THE HIGHWAY WHERE CARS ARE TRAVELLING faster than 45 miles per hour with this infant or child in your arms. Add rain, freezing rain, or a snow storm.
Bob always thought about his neighbors when he volunteered. He reminded us that not everyone can deal with the bureaucracy of a pantry and he always took some of his three-day allotment of food home, cooked it in his crock pot, and shared it with these special neighbors.
And, Bob is right. On the one hand, our pantry has very little bureaucracy because we never ask for any ID or documentation. We ask only that the person give us his/her name, the number of persons in the household, and the breakdown of seniors, adults, and children. We need those statistics for the monthly Hunger Prevention Nutrition Assistance Program report. We’re given our line of credit for food based on these numbers. The more households, seniors, adults, and children, the more food for our pantry.
Even though the pantry has very few documentation requirements, we more than made up for the paperwork with our building guidelines. Everyone, including volunteers, was only allowed in the building during certain times…no exceptions.
When it was time for the shoppers to be allowed in the building, they were invited in five people at a time. The shoppers were allowed to stand in a single file line in the hallway. There were only three chairs available in the hallway and there were typically over fifty people waiting in line. No one was allowed to touch the walls. The wait in the hallway was often over an hour.
PEOPLE CAME INTO THE PANTRY ROOM IN GROUPS OF FOUR. They went around the room in a single file and were in the room no more than three or four minutes. They shopped for a three-day-supply of food which lasted for seven days.
THIS POST SENDS OUT A SPECIAL REQUEST: Motel 19 residents really need pantry services. Walking down Route 28 to get into Kingston is challenging for some and scary for others. Life would be beautiful if some kind souls can open a Pocket Pantry. Or maybe some other pantry in Kingston can send over food every week. Or maybe some mobile food pantry can include Motel 19 in the regular route. Contact me if you have questions.
Thank you for reading this blog/book.
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Peace and food for all.
Thurman Greco
