I Need a Gun in the Food Pantry
“There is nothing that can’t be solved by the use of high explosives.” – Joshua Garner
“I’d like to get an application for a gun permit, please.” I said, the only little old gray haired lady in the room. I was finally first in line at the government office at Golden Hill in Kingston.
The counter person, an overweight man in his 50’s, could hardly contain his laughter as he handed me the form. “That’ll be $5 please, miss.”
I handed him the money and started to walk away. Then, I just couldn’t stand it anymore. I turned around to him and said pleasantly “Will you sell me 3 more applications, please? I forgot the girls in my Senior Yoga class asked me to get applications for them, too.”
I pulled out $15 more and put the money on the counter. The man gave me three more applications and then I walked away. I had no idea who I was going to give the applications to but I remembered the old “Alices Restaurant” song about three people or more people doing something and being a movement.
When I got home in Woodstock, Barry was sitting on the sofa surrounded by his cats as he read the latest thriller. “Hi Thurman. How’re you doing?” he asked without looking up as he took a few grapes from a large fruit filled bowl on a table beside the sofa. .
“I WANT TO LEARN TO SHOOT A GUN. I want a gun.” I replied. “I got the application today and I want you to teach me to shoot a gun.”
“What!?”
“I want you to teach me to shoot a gun. I know you can. You didn’t spend all those years sneaking off to the CIA and NSA without knowing how to use a gun. They even gave you a medal or award or something at the CIA once. For all I know, you’re a damn bazooka expert. Maybe I want to learn that too.”
“YOU CAN’T DO THAT! You might accidentally shoot one of the Chihuahuas.”
“Well, I’m tired of asking pantry volunteers to be bodyguards. It’s not safe when I’m working in the pantry after hours. I haven’t felt safe since that incident with Mike and Mike and the air conditioner. And, I’m not one bit afraid of the shoppers.”
“Listen, I know your job is difficuIt Thurman. Not even a Marine drill sergeant would do what you’re doing. But I don’t know about a gun.”
“I know, I know. I should be more comfortable with everything that’s happening. After all, I did live fifty miles from headhunters in Venezuela but that was all a long time ago. This is the 21st century. That Maglite I bought a while back just isn’t the same as a club. I need something more powerful.
“I’ve lived with guns my whole life.” I continued. “My father wore a pistol every day to work in his law office. Everyone in my family carried guns and had rifles in their cars. My grandmother kept a rifle in her bathroom.”
” TG-YOU’RE JUST NOT THE GUN TYPE. I don’t care what you say about your relatives carrying arms. Besides that, I sold my last gun years ago. What about a knife? Let me teach you to use a knife. A good knife will cost much less and you won’t need a permit. You won’t need bullets. It won’t require maintenance. It’ll be easier to carry and use. I’ll give you lessons. Nobody will ever know. Leash up the Chihuahuas. We’re going to Warren Cutlery right now.”
And, so he did. He took me to Warren Cutlery. I held several different knives to see how they fit in my palm. My first choice didn’t pass muster. “That knife is too big and too heavy” Barry said as he pointed to a smaller model. “You need something small enough that you can open quickly. If you’re too slow, your attacker will have you down before you get it open.”
So, I chose a smaller, lighter model that happened to be on sale.
And, off we went. He taught me to use and carry a knife. He taught me how to open it quickly but never bothered with teaching me to close it fast. “That part’s not important” he said as he helped me practice.
And, he was right. A knife is quiet. It weighs less than a gun. I don’t need a permit. I don’t have to worry about shooting one of the Chihuahuas by accident. And, unless I go through a metal detector before I take it out of my purse, no one has a clue. I’m just a sweet little old gray haired lady in a Prius tootling down the road 5 miles below the speed limit.
Before it was all over, he bought me a second knife…a smaller one which I kept open on the counter in the pantry ostensibly to open cardboard boxes.
Thanks for reading this blog/book.
Please share this article with your preferred social media network.
Please send a comment.
Peace and food for all.
Thurman
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
Take Outs – Why People Can’t Get To The Pantry
“Thurman, why are you delivering food to her house? She’s got children. One of them has a car. He can bring her. ”
“Thurman, nobody who has a car should get food delivered.”
“Thurman, he’s got some money. You can’t take food to him.”
THERE ARE ALWAYS THOSE WHO CANNOT MAKE IT TO THE PANTRY. Delivery service is not always available in every pantry. And, there are always others who feel delivery service is an exclusive experience for the freeloaders.
My stance is that those who need delivery service are the neediest of all.
“Hello, Mr. Roberts. How are you doing today?”
“Thanks so much for coming Thurman. I’ve been getting meals from my neighbors but they didn’t make it over yesterday so I’m out of food and haven’t eaten since yesterday morning.”
“Well, have you got any snacks to tide you over when this happens?”
“Not really. And, anyway, I can’t walk anymore. I can barely make it to the bathroom.”
“What about Meals on Wheels?”
“Can’t afford them.”
“Aren’t you getting hospice? When is the hospice lady supposed to come?”
MANY HOME BOUND PEOPLE ARE ELDERLY. The —–(you put in the body part here) no longer works, the person becomes home bound. Unless this older citizen has a large support group, life can be challenging.
The best approach for dealing with the needs of the home bound, especially the elderly, is to encourage them to use the pantry before they are home bound. But, this can be a real challenge.
GETTING A SENIOR CITIZEN TO USE A PANTRY CAN BE DIFFICULT. But the food is there and they should be encouraged to use not only the pantry but the soup kitchen and SNAP. Then, when they become home bound, they will already have a support system of sorts which can be adapted to their needs.
Current statistics, from the Feeding America survey, for seniors in our country tell us that one senior in seven does not get enough food. When this happens, the senior is at risk of illness.
WHEN THE SENIOR GETS SICK THE CHILDREN AND GRANDCHILDREN MUST TAKE CARE OF HIM/HER. Proper nutrition is a good disease prevention measure.
Thank you for reading this blog/book.
Please refer this article to your preferred social media.
Please send a comment.
Peace and food for all.
Thurman Greco
Thank You to Everyone Who Helps Out
THE RESERVOIR FOOD PANTRY OPENED LAST SEPTEMBER 9, 2013, TO VERY LITTLE FANFARE. As we approach our one-year anniversary, I am amazed at the number of people we are serving. We offer food weekly behind Robert’s Auction on Monday afternoons at 2:00. We deliver food to one senior community on Tuesdays. We deliver food to another community on Fridays. In between, volunteers deliver food to homebound individuals in the area.
Our success is the result of much thought, work, and planning on the part of the volunteers, and generosity on the part of area residents who provide food and funds whenever asked.
AS A NEW PANTRY IN THE FOOD BANK SYSTEM, WE’RE CONTINUALLY BUYING FOOD, GASOLINE, REPAIRS, OFFICE SUPPLIES, INSURANCE. We cannot ever, not in our wildest dreams, provide this much food to this many hungry people without the support of those around us .
You, our friends and neighbors, open your wallets and kitchen cabinets every time we ask.
Monthly, pantry volunteers stand at the entrance to the Kingston Walmart for three days asking for food and/or money to feed the hungry. The generosity of the Walmart employees allowing us to solicit for funds and the generosity of the store shoppers responding to our plea is mind boggling. We will be standing in front of the Walmart today, Thursday, and Friday.
EVERY OTHER MONTH, WE’RE OUTSIDE THE BOICEVILLE IGA ASKING FOR FOOD. People are always very generous to our plea.
We receive weekly food donations from Bread Alone, Migliorelli’s, and Shandaken Gardens.
I CANNOT EXPRESS OUR GRATITUDE ANY MORE PLAINLY THAN THIS: without your help, our pantry cannot exist.
Thank you.
Peace and food for all.
Thurman Greco
The Homeless Visit the Food Pantry
“Homeless is not a category of people. It’s just a situation that happens. It can happen to anyone.” -Salvador Altamirano-Segura
In some respects, the homeless have problems just like you and me…
mental illness
physical disabilities
domestic violence
HIV issues
employment
underemployment
unemployment.
Finally, many are also veterans.
THEY JUST DON’T HAVE A ROOF OVER THEIR HEADS.
Homeless people, families come into pantries very quietly. They’ve lost their voice. The goal is to melt into the background, get food, and disappear.
There are reasons for this. They are often suffering from mental illness in addition to homelessness. Homelessness accompanies a number of mental illnesses including schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. Mentally ill persons have a tendency to become chronically homeless.
This can create an exception to the voiceless rule as the person communicates with beings unknown to the rest of us in tongue we don’t understand. One shopper at our pantry has been in another world since before I began working at the pantry.
According to MentalIllnessPolicy.org, there are over 250,000 seriously mentally ill homeless persons in our country. This statistic is very telling. What it says is there are more homeless people with untreated severe psychiatric illnesses than there are people receiving care for their diseases.
I see the sidewalks of whatever town or city I’m in as nothing more than wards for the untreated mentally ill. They mentally ill homeless suffer with all the day-to-day survival that all homeless have and, to top it all off, they’re sick.
THE HOMELESS HAVE SPECIAL NEEDS OVERLOOKED IN A PANTRY.
For starters, they have no address. This can be a real hindrance if a pantry bureaucracy requires such. In some communities in this area, several kind souls allow the homeless to use their location as a mail drop/address so they can receive the services they so desperately need and so they can register to vote.
Many pantry coordinators have no concept of the food needs of the homeless. Because the homeless have their kitchens in their shirt pockets, they food they use is very limited: protein/cereal bars, peanut butter, crackers, fresh fruits and vegetables to be eaten raw: blueberries, carrot sticks, celery, lemons, lettuce, limes, milk in pint containers, nuts, oranges, strawberries, sweet peppers, tomatoes.
ON BEHALF OF THE MANY HOMELESS IN OUR COUNTRY, I THANK YOU FOR READING THIS BLOG/BOOK.
Please share this article with your preferred social network.
Please send a comment.
Peace and food for all.
Thurman Greco
What Hunger Looks Like in Woodstock
POLITICIANS THIS YEAR POSTURE ABOUT CUTTING BENEFITS AND INFRASTRUCTURE SPENDING TO PRESERVE OUR NATION. Newspaper and magazine articles regularly discuss how we now have more super wealthy CEOs and individual Americans than we have ever had before. The growing number of poor is largely ignored.
More Americans live at or below the poverty line than ever before in the history of our country according to a Feeding America survey. Where do these people come from? They come from the poor and middle classes.
THEY MAKE UP A NEW GROUP: THE STRUGGLING POOR.
In September, 1990, when the Good Neighbor Food Pantry opened, President Bush and Soviet President Gorbachev met in Helsinki to discuss the Persian Gulf crisis. Only 13.5% of our nation’s people lived below the poverty line. That percentage represented about 33.5 million people according to infoplease.com. Today, it’s estimated that 15% of Americans live at or below the poverty line. That number is about 46.2 million.
AS THE COORDINATOR OF A SMALL TOWN FOOD PANTRY, I SAW THE SHOPPER CENSUS CLIMB FROM TWENTY-FIVE PERSONS PER WEEK PRIOR TO 2008 TO 500 PER WEEK BY 2013.
For years, the pantry served mostly single homeless men and Woodstock’s colorful characters on Thursdays. By the time we were serving over 500 people weekly, we were giving a three-day-supply of food to families, households, and individuals in many categories: artists, crazy poor, elderly poor, generational poor, homebound, homeless, ill poor, infant poor, messed-up poor, musicians, poets, newly poor, resource poor, situational poor, struggling poor, terminally ill poor, transient poor, underemployed poor, unemployed poor, veterans, writers.
AS TIME PASSED, I SAW MORE AND MORE HARD WORKING PEOPLE STRUGGLE WITH THE REALITY OF NOT HAVING ANY FOOD MONEY AFTER THEY PAID THE RENT AND BOUGHT GAS TO GET TO THEIR MINIMUM WAGE JOBS. I served people just laid off from a job who I knew would never work again. Seriously ill people came for food when they had no money left because every dime had gone to pay the medical bills. Traumatized people came in when their homes were foreclosed or destroyed because of Hurricane Irene and Superstorm Sandy.
On a more personal level I met alcoholics, artists, child abusers, children, crazies, the disabled, druggies, drunks, elderly men and women, hardworking people juggling two and three jobs, homeless, mentally ill, messed-up people, musicians, people battling terminal illness, politicians, schizophrenics, thieves, veterans, Woodstock’s colorful characters, writers, various church people, and pantry volunteers.
When I meet with other professionals in the food pantry industry, we all agree that we’ve never seen anything as bad as now. Don Csaposs, a retired board member of the Food Bank of Northeastern New York recently described our situation very aptly when he said: “We are living in an upside down world.”
NOW, IN 2014, POLITICIANS PONTIFICATE ABOUT THE POOR: LAZY, IRRESPONSIBLE.
The average wait for a three-day-supply of food (which must be stretched to last a week) in the pantry hallway is almost an hour. The building committee allows no chairs for the shoppers to sit on. In the winter, there is no heat in the building except for the body heat generated by people crowded in the hallway.
AND, THIS WAIT IS ONCE THEY ARE INSIDE THE BUILDING. Many wait outside for an hour or so in freezing weather, snow, sleet, rain, 100 degree heat, before the pantry opens. It doesn’t matter. The three-day-supply of food is gone and they have no money for more.
The three-day limit is a Hunger Prevention Nutrition Assistance Program (HPNAP) guideline. And, it’s a practical one. The fresh produce distributed isn’t going to last much more than three days because it’s been diverted from a landfill on its way to the pantry.
While receiving a three-day supply of food, they are doing without a lot: salt, pepper, sugar, flour, fresh milk, cooking oil, coffee.
Often these people, like members of the Flores family work seven days a week – every week. Every family member has more than one job. They manage to bring in enough funds to pay the rent for a cramped apartment and to buy gas.
No insurance.
No food.
No clothes.
WHEN I THINK ABOUT IT, I REALIZE EVERYTHING THEY GET IS RECYCLED:
The apartment they rent is old and rundown.
Their pickup is definitely used.
The clothing is donated to Family by people who no longer plan to use it.
THE FOOD, LIKEWISE, IS RECYCLED.
The produce, dairy, and bread is all definitely on its way to the landfill when it gets diverted and sent to the Food Bank, then on to our pantry.
The canned goods are diverted at the grocery store from the landfill. Cans are dented, outdated. Some have no labels.
The boxed goods are the worst…especially the crackers. A box of crackers is often a box of cracker crumbs.
NO MATTER, PEOPLE ARE GRATEFUL FOR WHAT THEY GET. It’s better than nothing and no one ever complains.
On behalf of the Flores family and other pantry shoppers, I thank you for reading this blog/book. This blog is their story…one that desperately needs to be told.
Please share this article on your favorite social media network.
Please send a comment.
Peace and food for all.
Thurman Greco
They Named Me Miriam’s Well
But, that’s not the beginning of the story. My story began in 1996 when Ford manufactured me and sold me to U-Haul. I worked for fourteen years hauling people’s belongings and treasured possessions around the country. I moved people across town and across the nation. What a life. For the most part, everyone was stressed out and worried their things were going to break or their checks would bounce or that the credit card wouldn’t work.
I did my best. I broke down very few times and quietly endured a lot of abuse from overstressed human clients and rental employees.
Finally, in 2012, I was retired. The mechanics refitted me with a new transmission, brakes, tires, etc., and put me on the lot in Kingston, New York, to sell. I sat out on the lot, dejected, rejected, and lonely over the winter.
Then, one day, some men from Woodstock, New York, showed up. What a crew. They stood around, looked me over from stem to stern, asked a lot of questions, and bought me.
But, not before lots of talk and some serious haggling. Three men and two of them named Richard! Can you imagine that? With ALL the names in the world, two of them were named Richard. Guy was the third one. They talked a lot and they touched everything and checked everything. I fell in love with them immediately. They got the price down and I was very excited for them. They were working for me. After months of loneliness on the lot at the rental store, I began to feel useful again…and wanted…and needed.
Sure enough, one day they returned. Richard Allen did most of the talking. They paid the price and off we went. Then, of course, the transmission started acting up and back we went. A lot of haggling continued and finally the Ford people fixed the problem and I was driven over to St. John’s Roman Catholic Church where a special parking place was made just for me. Imagine that!
Then, those three men really got to work. Rich and Rich and Guy did all the paperwork for the insurance, the registration papers, the permits, and everything else anyone could imagine.
And, finally, Rich Spool took me over to Upstate Signs and negotiated with Chester for my sign and now I’m the most beautiful truck in the whole world. Well, maybe not the most beautiful truck in the whole world but there’s a woman that they talk about sometimes and SHE thinks I’m the most beautiful truck in the whole world. Whenever Thurman looks at me, she gets all choked up.
Anyway, soon after we got the sign, a bunch of people came and got trained. Imagine that. Imagine getting trained to drive a U-Haul truck. For over ten years people drove me every day and nobody, absolutely nobody got trained to drive me at all. Now, they all have to have a drivers license, and special insurance, and a training class. Richard Allen does the training. He’s got a fancy title for all the things that he’s doing for me and for the things we do with me. He’s the Truck Master.
Guy Oddo is in charge of keeping track of everybody. He’s also got a title. He’s a Route Master. But I’m getting ahead of myself.
I’m so proud. I’m going out on the road almost every day. But, I’m not carrying furniture and stuff anymore. And the people who ride in my cab and come by to visit when we’re parked are definitely not stressed out.
Now, Rich Allen gets a couple of other people every day and off we go for food. We go to Albany every Wednesday and return to Woodstock completely loaded with food for our local food pantry. Occasionally, when we go to Albany, they get so much food I have to stretch my body to hold it all. Sometimes the truck crew notices and sometimes they don’t. When they notice, they whisper that it’s magic. Well, call it what you want. I’m doing everything I can to help keep the people fed.
Once a month we go over to Kingston to bring back food from the Food Bank monthly shipment. Rich Allen has a special crew and I really have to stretch my sides for this one trip. The Food Bank offloads over 10,000 pounds of food each month and there are several other cars and trucks joining in. I’m so proud to be a part of this pantry. And, of course, all the food gets packed up and goes to the pantry. And, when we get to Woodstock, Thurman is there waiting for the food and she gets all excited. It’s a beautiful day when the food comes over from the Food Bank.
Twice weekly we deliver food to area families and households. We park in each location about an hour. We offer a three-day supply of food to the people who come over to us. But…that’s not all we do.
What we really do is offer a community experience which is completely unavailable in a pantry housed in a building. When we drive up, there’s no shame or embarrassment, no need to hide. Instead, people gather for a few moments in communal conversation and connect with their neighbors. The feelings of isolation so prevalent in a pantry are completely absent.
We’re hoping to offer this experience at other locations in the area.
I’m the happiest truck in the whole wide world. I love my new name which comes from an Old Testament story. And, frankly, I’m hoping they start looking for another truck for us soon. I hope they name her Goddess.
Peace and food for all.T
Thanks for reading this post.
Please send a comment.
Please share this article with your preferred social network.
Thurman Greco
The Dump…and Much More at the Good Neighbor Food Pantry in Woodstock
“I dread talking about politics because I don’t like politics. Never have. Never will. Don’t understand it. Don’t trust it. Politics scares me.” – Kathy Bates
Bob Otto, a volunteer, visited every car dealer in Kingston and Saugerties asking for a van or truck for our pantry. Sawyer Motors was the only dealer who even gave Bob any attention. Bob got a few minutes with Robert Siracusano and was able to appeal to his sense of community.
“I don’t have anything now, but we do get lease vehicles in. When the right vehicle comes in, I’ll call you.”
And, he was good for his word. In about three months Sawyer Motors called with a low mileage Dodge Grand Caravan in excellent condition. The price was right and Barry drove over, paid for the car with money I had in savings and picked it up. What a wonde3rful thing Bob Otto and Sawyer Motors did for us! We now had a vehicle large enough and strong enough to do all the jobs needed to be done. The car, which we named Vanessa, was on the road eight days a week from the moment she left the lot.
Vanessa could be seen at the dump at least four days a week. On Tuesdays, after we stocked the shelves and made the takeout runs, Vanessa hauled enough cardboard to fill up the cardboard receiving tub at the dump. And, Vanessa returned on Thursday morning with cardboard collected during the pantry shift on Wednesday afternoon. Then, as if that wasn’t enough, Vanessa carried yet another totally full load of cardboard on Friday morning before we drove to Latham to pick up 1,000 to 1,200 pounds of canned/boxed food.
Cardboard disposal was a huge part of our pantry routine. For starters, we had to dispose of the cardboard because if we didn’t, we would have been very quickly overrun with the boxes (within two days, at the latest.)
Secondly, cardboard was important to the building committee. Members believed the cardboard harbored “vermin” (to use the committee term.) This could not have been further from the truth. In reality, we had no insects or rodents to speak of. The reason behind this is our boxes were constantly being moved around both at the Food Bank and then, finally, at our pantry. When boxes are “on the move”, any and all self-respecting insects and mice “skedaddle”, to use a technical term used at the Food Bank.
When we first moved into the storeroom, we found a mouse. Once we caught that one mouse, we never saw another one. We set out many mouse traps, ant and roach motels, all around the storeroom in case something came around but we never really found anything.
The building committee objected to cardboard in the hallways, in the pantry, outside the building where it could be seen, and in the parking lot. We were never able to totally overcome this objection because there were no places to keep the broken down cardboard boxes. We did our best to make sure that, at the end of each shift, all the cardboard was removed.
In addition to our regular duties in the pantry, Robert Allen, Richard Allen, Tony Cannistra, Jim Hansen, Bob Oddo, Barry Greco, the Anderson team, and I were an informal committee devoted to breaking down and disposing of the cardboard.
As the shopper population increased on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays, flying boxes were seen in the hallway the entire shift.
And, as if all of the above wasn’t enough, Vanessa always worked a full day on Friday. Every Friday, Barry and I drove Vanessa to Latham to pick up one thousand to fifteen hundred pounds of canned or boxed USDA foods. We had a standing appointment in the warehouse at 11:30 a.m.
I placed the order every Wednesday when I called Bonnie or Michele and asked for whatever USDA foods that had turned up on Monday and Tuesday. Our pantry was allowed sixteen cases of each different USDA item each month. In my book, USDA was worth its weight in gold bars. The food was free and, when it was in stock, there was a good variety: canned refried beans, canned vegetarian beans, canned green beans, peanut butter, juice, frozen chicken, frozen blueberries, dates, prunes, tomato sauce.
Each Friday morning at 11:30, Barry and I loaded the food into Vanessa and returned to Woodstock. At 4:00, we were allowed in the building to offload the food in the pantry. The building committee gave us a thirty-minute slot between 4:00 and 6:00 p.m. on Friday to offload. We weren’t allowed to put the food on the shelves at that time but we could at least get it out of the car. Nor were we allowed in any other part of the building beyond the pantry room.
And, I never felt we were trusted in this effort. Many was the time people watched us as we unloaded the food.
The frozen food we brought back went in the freezer in the barn.
When we had a food drive at the Sunflower on a Saturday, we carried the food around in Vanessa until the following Tuesday morning at 9:00 because we weren’t in the building on Saturday, Sunday, or Monday.
Thank you for reading this blog/book.
Please share this article with your preferred social network.
Please leave a comment.
Peace and food for all.
Thurman Greco
Food Bank of the Hudson Valley Throws a Party
Every year, in May, the Food Bank of the Hudson Valley in Cornwall-on-Hudson, New York, throws a party. The employees who spend every working moment getting food together to feed the hungry, make time in their schedules to put together a wonderful dinner honoring the Food Bank and agency volunteers. On this special evening, the cavernous storeroom is transformed into a large dining hall complete with enough tables and chairs (donated by the Storm King Engine Company #2) to seat at least 235 people.
While the transformation is performed by the employees at the Food Bank, most everything else is a community effort.
The delicious menu at this year’s event was a combined effort of C & S Wholesale, who gave the food and Nick Zitera of Cosimos’s Restaurant. This collaboration, overseen by Toni Gutter and Jessica Fetonti offered a special selection for the guests: lemon chicken, roast pork, toss salad with a specially prepared sesame seed dressing, green beans in an oriental sauce, tortellini Alfredo.
Dessert was a delicious cake prepared by Hannaford’s Bakery and served with freshly brewed coffee.
Other beverages served during the evening were donated by Pepsi Cola.
Fresh flowers were on every table.
An agency is honored every year. The 2014 honoree is Helping Hands Food Pantry of Dover Plains. A table full of volunteers from Helping Hands came to the dinner. They brought their longest standing volunteer who has been serving at Helping Hands since it opened over 30 years ago.
Roberta Sherman and Tom Coons, two Food Bank volunteers, were honored this year.
So what is the moral of this story? The moral is this: even though employees of the Food Bank of the Hudson Valley are focused on getting food to the hungry, they have space in their schedules and their hearts to honor people who themselves are so immersed in feeding the hungry that they don’t even realize they need this recognition.
When people are totally focused on give, give, give, they forget they might need to have their own spiritual tanks refilled occasionally. So, then, along comes the Food Bank of the Hudson Valley offering a banquet meal to fill not only the body but the soul.
To the Food Bank of the Hudson Valley, I say “Thank you.”
To the rest of us I ask “How can we help the people of the Food Bank refill their spiritual tanks?”
Thank you for reading this blog/book.
Please share this article with your preferred social network.
Please send a comment.
Peace and food for all.
Thurman Greco
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.
Thank you for reading this blog/book.
Please send a comment.
Please share this article on your preferred social network.
Peace and food for all.
Thurman Greco
