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?”
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Peace and food for all.
Thurman Greco
A Summer Storm in New York State: Hurricane Irene and Super Storm Sandy
If we can conquer space, we can conquer childhood hunger.” – Buzz Aldrin
With hurricane season upon us again, I’m reminded that weather was always an important consideration for both pantry shoppers and volunteers in the Good Neighbor Food Pantry in Woodstock. Winters were important because of the cold, cold, cold waits in front of the building before the door opened.
But, summers were another matter altogether. Storms confronted us several times every summer. They ranged from gentle showers lasting a few minutes to hurricanes of historic proportions.
Always a concern in these summer events was the stream running along the side of the church building. Actually, the building was constructed right into the stream and the parking lot was on the other side of the stream. Drivers crossed over a tiny bridge to park.
Often, when rain came, the little stream rose. On several occasions I feared for the pantry. I didn’t fear for the building. It was built many years ago and had weathered many storms and high water events. I feared water would come into the pantry room which was on the lowest floor and right on ground level.
Luckily, this never happened. At one point, during a storm, we were distributing food to the shoppers and keeping an eye on the water level at the same time. The water came up to within two inches of coming into the building.
“Please shop quickly folks. That stream is rising very fast. I want us all to get our food before I have to close the pantry for our safety.”
I repeated these three sentences over and over and over. (As if the people could have shopped any faster. They were already being pushed to their limits regularly in an effort to get as many people through the pantry as we could during shopping hours.)
Then, in August, 2011, Hurricane Irene blew through. The seventh costliest hurricane in U.S. History, Irene landed at Coney Island on August 28th as a category 1 storm and then moved through New York State on its way over New England.
Throughout the Catskill Mountains and the Hudson River Valley, Irene caused floods described as five-hundred-year-floods by The Weather Channel.
On the next pantry day following Irene’s visit, people flocked in. They had no power in their homes, apartments, rooms. Some had lost everything. Others were inconvenienced by what was to be a week or more without power.
But, all were grateful for the food they received at the pantry.
Some in the line were visibly upset. It was painfully obvious that some of the people were never going to spiritually, emotionally, and financially recover from Irene. One couple, renting a place near Boiceville, lost everything, including their car. Someone they knew had a room in a shed further up the road on a hill. They moved in. They’re still there. They still don’t have a car. They walk to the Reservoir Food Pantry now and pick up what food they can carry to their home each week.
Within a short time, the Food Bank was making both Clorox and water in gallon jugs available.
The lesson I learned from Irene was to be prepared in the summer. Now, I order cleaning supplies throughout the year whenever they become available at the Food Bank. We try to keep bars of soap and toothbrushes on hand in the Items of Dignity section of the pantry.
Water is available in the pantry throughout the year. At a minimum, shoppers can take a bottle when they shop. In time of crisis they can, of course, take much more depending on what we have stacked in the back.
Having bottled water in the storeroom caused both problems and criticism when people who didn’t understand our ordering system saw case after case after case of water just sitting in a corner. This was particularly troubling to those who saw us allowing people to take only one bottle weekly throughout the year when we had so much in the storeroom.
When criticized, I simply refused to move off the dime. Two things with their own clocks: Food Banks and Hurricanes. I learned to work with both schedules.
When Superstorm Sandy hit New York City on October 29, 2012, the volunteers at the Good Neighbor Food Pantry were more prepared than when Irene visited. And, it was a good thing. Sandy was much larger and deadlier, affecting states from Florida to Maine. Sandy was both the second costliest hurricane in U.S. History and the deadliest.
At the pantry, we really didn’t skip a beat. As the shoppers filed in for food we asked each one about how they’d been affected by Sandy.
Probably half of the people coming through our doors in November were affected by Superstorm Sandy. As with Irene, some Sandy victims were unaware that food pantries even existed the week before. They just woke up one morning to discover life as they knew it to be totally different. To make matters worse, they soon realized they were in a new sociological category: situational poor. Not only were they homeless and scrounging for food, they were soon painfully aware they needed huge amounts of money to even begin the climb back to what they thought was normal.
“We’ve lost everything, our home, our car…everything.”
“We’re doing better than some Thurman. Part of our house is still standing. Our car is not gone.”
“Everything is gone, our home, our car, my job.”
On and on the stories went. Standing in the hall waiting to get food was calming for some. Others were not so calmed during their first visits. They looked around in the line and saw some of the people for what they were: alcoholics, artists, child abusers, children, crazies, the disabled, druggies, drunks, the elderly, hardworking people juggling two and three jobs, homeless, mentally ill, messed-up people, musicians, schizophrenics, terminally ill, thieves, Woodstock’s colorful characters, volunteers.
The Food Bank of the Hudson Valley shipped truckloads of food to our community in the weeks after Superstorm Sandy. In a short time, we served lines of people from the parking lot at St. John’s Roman Catholic Church off route 375 in West Hurley. In all, ten truckloads of food were distributed. This was in addition to food we were distributing to people on regular pantry days.
For months after Sandy’s visit, we ruminated over how to improve our disaster operations. Rich Allen devised a system he called “Buddy Up.” He asked each volunteer to contact another pantry and be prepared to communicate with these people in future storm events.
I went to the Town of Woodstock Board meetings several times and tried to involve the town in our efforts. I was never able to engage the Town Board in an effort to feed people in the event of a disaster.
The Good Neighbor Food pantry had the backing of the Food Bank of the Hudson Valley. We had volunteers trained to deliver food during emergencies. What we lacked were community officials who believed Woodstock would ever get hit. And, also, we had demonstrated that we could/would deliver large shipments of food to hungry people without involving the community in any way. Why should they bother to participate? A free ride already existed.
What we did not have and what we needed was for the Town of Woodstock to allow us to deliver and distribute large amounts of food to hungry people from a community property location if a damaging disaster struck our area.
When I requested this, I was met with glazed eyes, stares, and silence. And, really, why should they cooperate? The Catholic Church in West Hurley hosted these emergency mass food distributions now. Why change things? They simply didn’t to get involved if they could shove the job off on someone else.
My argument was that the community had a responsibility to offer a location. In the event of a serious future disaster, the parking lot of St. John’s Church was not big enough. I argued that preparation for a disaster would not hurt.
This story does not have a positive resolution. To my knowledge, no one stepped forward with a provision for emergency food distribution in Woodstock in the event of a catastrophic event.
The Reservoir Food Pantry and its location in Boiceville is now the focus of any disaster prevention efforts. Fortunately or unfortunately, Boiceville residents are familiar with superstorm aftermath.
Restoring normalcy to Upstate New Yorkers in the aftermath of both Irene and Sandy has been lacking. Many destroyed homes and businesses in our area are still not restored. A motel next to our Reservoir Food Pantry distribution point on Route 28 in Boiceville has been abandoned. Shoppers are coming for food who will probably never experience life as they knew it before Irene and Sandy.
Sadly, mold and rot advance without any help and buildings and vehicles do not repair themselves. We need to figure out how to facilitate rebuilding homes and businesses while preparing for the next disaster.
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Thurman Greco
The Monthly Food Delivery at the Good Neighbor Food Pantry
“It is not necessary to advertise food to hungry people, fuel to cold people, or houses to the homeless.” – John Kenneth Galbraith
Once we began offering a three-day supply of food to every person in every household represented in the shopping line, the supply chain began to organize itself.
Usually, on the third Tuesday of every month, our shipment arrived at the Hannaford’s parking lot in the Kingston Plaza Shopping Center. We had a standing 9:15 a.m. offloading appointment.
On this day, I felt free. The best day of the month was here – Delivery Day! I spent all the week before preparing for this morning. I called the Food Bank every day last week ordering thousands of pounds of food.
Bobbie Blitzer called the delivery caravan members beginning the week before and reminded them to meet in the parking lot outside Hannaford’s.
The caravan team gathered in the parking lot of the shipment delivery day and waited for the truck from the Food Bank of Northeastern New York to offload our shipment which was packed the Friday before on its own pallets. The Food Bank truck drivers and the pantry caravan crew were a dedicated group of individuals who brought the food over every month regardless of the weather – rain, sleet, snow, ice, 100 degree heat, etc.
The empty storeroom was neatened up to receive the fresh load of food.
Now, at last, the food was on its way. I always got excited. Everything that could have been done to get ready for the shipment was done.
We’re ready! They’re coming!
In the very beginning when we first started ordering food monthly, the order weighed 2,000 pounds or so and we felt we had ordered all the food in the whole world. It wasn’t long until 10,000 to 12,000 pounds or so was expected every month. 16,000 pounds was considered a very large order.
Depending on what was in the order, it could seem to be much larger than it was. The result was that occasionally, several of the volunteers returned to Kingston a second time on delivery day.
On delivery day, the building committee allowed me to arrive at the pantry at 8 a.m. instead of the usual 9:00 a.m. Tuesday arrival. I used this time to make necessary last minute changes in the storeroom before the caravan rolled in.
The Hudson Correctional Team usually arrived a little before 9:00 in a dark green van. They went directly to the storeroom and assessed the situation.
Once the caravan rolled in, organized chaos reigned supreme. Go team!
Before coming to the pantry, I stopped at Woodstock Meats for six of their wonderful sandwiches, a large bag of potato chips, a large box of cookies, 6 apples, and a large coke for the men coming over from the Hudson Correctional facility.
Everyone agreed the room couldn’t hold 10,000 pounds of food. But what were we to do? We only got one delivery a month and we were making weekly trips for produce and Friday trips for canned goods. I gritted my teeth, ordered what I could get, and let the men shake their heads. Occasionally Mike Lourenso lost his temper over the amount of food coming in. I just took it. We needed the food. We had the line of credit for it. Experience with the Food Bank taught me that I needed to “strike while the iron was hot” if there was food I needed. Most of the Food Bank stock came from donations and nobody ever knew what next month’s food supply might offer. This was especially true of all USDA products as well as soup, peanut butter, water, bleach, diapers, toilet paper, coffee, surplus baked goods, cereal.
At one point I asked Peggy Johnson to do the ordering. She probably would have been better at this than I, but Mike got so angry at her that I took the job away from her. I couldn’t let anyone else take this anger. After all, I was the coordinator. The buck stopped at my desk.
I loved every one of the Hudson Correctional men. They stacked the food to the ceiling, performing stocking miracles every month. And, what’s more, they did it happily. The guys cheerfully loaded the food in the room until every last box was taken care of. Their correctional officer was a man I totally adored. He was good with them, good with the pantry volunteers, and good with the Anderson guys.
Regular volunteers came to the pantry on delivery day about 8:30 to help stock shelves. Nathan drove The Anderson Center for Autism van over with his crew.
The little pantry was stuffed to the rafters with volunteers stocking the shelves as quickly as possible. Bobbie Blitzer was the Delivery Day room supervisor. Regulars included Leticia when she wasn’t helping with the take outs, Tony Cannistra and Robin Dougherty in addition to people walking in to help.
Peggy Johnson came early on delivery day also. The hallway was a total disaster on delivery day because we had extra volunteers, more than 10,000 pounds of food coming down the hall and we had take out volunteers packing bags…all in the same hallway space at the same time.
While Peggy lined the walls with cardboard, put out the tables, and set the take out bags under the tables, Barry showed up with his Jeep stuffed with boxes of beautiful fresh produce, baked goods and bread from the Hurley Ridge Market. At this point, Peggy, Prasida, Jamie, Laura, Leticia, and Marvalene began packing the take out bags.
“First truck is taking off, Thurman. Expect them in 10-15 minutes.”
Music to my ears!
When I heard those words, I corralled the Hudson guys out front with carts and we waited for the caravan to arrive.
As the first truck arrived, I stationed myself just inside the door of the building.
“Put four boxes in the pantry and wheel the rest in the storeroom.”
“Thanks. Put all of this in the pantry.”
“Keep the line moving guys. Thanks. What’s in those boxes now?”
“Have we got any more room in the pantry for this?”
This banter went on for an hour or so as people jammed the hallway pushing hand carts to the storeroom and the pantry.
Volunteers stocked shelves.
Volunteers filled bags for takeout packages going to homebound households.
Volunteers broke down hundreds of boxes.
We never had an accident in all this organized chaos. Chalk that up to a continuation of miracles.
Then, about 11:00, everything came together.
The pantry would be so full that not one more can, box, or bag could be added.
The last truck carrying food over from Kingston pulled away from the pantry entrance empty, all the food offloaded and taken to the storeroom, or pantry. Frozen foods went to the freezers in the barn.
The Anderson team filled their van with takeout bags and drove away to make deliveries to homebound households.
Father Nicholas and his crew drove away with their van filled with takeout bags.
Prasida, Laura, and Guy each drove away with vehicles filled with deliveries.
The Hudson Crew got their lunch box and took off for the prison.
I took a deep breath.
It was now time to prepare for the Tuesday lunch class/meeting where I offered a meal, the latest news, and a little bit of training and encouragement to the volunteers before Peggy and her crew started packing next week’s canned goods in the take out bags.
I made a second trip to Woodstock Meats for sandwiches for the volunteers. Orders always included roast beef sandwichess (the number three special), ham and cheese, egg salad, and the Italian combo. Every sandwich came on Deising’s Kaiser rolls delivered to Woodstock Meats each morning from Kingston. The lettuce, tomatoes, and onions used all came from local farms.
Woodstock Meats was owned by members of the Christofora family. This family also owned Woodstock Hardware and the Laundromat. It’s my belief that they built the Laundromat less because they wanted to own another business than because they finally realized that if they didn’t do it no one would and then Woodstock wouldn’t have a Laundromat at all.
The Christofora family was good to many people in Woodstock. For example, when the pantry was a fledgling, they offered a sign special on the fence around the ball club. I felt our pantry needed this sign. I was in the process of getting the purchase of the sign approved by the board to meet the deadline when Jim Dougherty started leaping around that we couldn’t do it. When I told Kevin Cristofora we had to back out of the deal, he didn’t even skip a beat. He just gave the pantry a free sign and hosted us at food drives at the Little League Ball Games throughout the summer. For me, that was class.
Our pantry needed to be in the lineup on the fence for inclusion purposes. We were outsiders in the community for many of the people and this was a chance for us to be a little less outside. Kevin made it happen. (The food drives didn’t hurt one bit, either.)
Of course, all this fresh food offered delicious aromas. Woodstock Meats baked its roast beef on the premises and our noses knew the difference. The pickles on the sandwiches were all locally made as were the cheeses.
There was usually a bag of potato chips thrown in. Everyone had cold drinks except Leticia, who liked a fresh coffee from Woodstock Meats.
Sometimes we’d have a cake if someone fessed up to a birthday. When that happened, Barry went to Deising’s Bakery in Kingston and ordered a real birthday cake with raspberry filling, real butter cream frosting, and flowers to decorate the top of the cake.
As often as I took this order, I was never, never, never able to order the right amount of food. We either had a sandwich left over or people had to share.
There’s an art to ordering sandwiches from Woodstock Meats.
None of the food eaten by the volunteers in the pantry came from the Food Bank, or was donated by a grocery store or other generous donor to our pantry. Food Bank guidelines forbade such activities. I made a point of having everyone know where the food came from so there would be no question of the origin.
Besides, the best sandwiches in town came from Woodstock Meats. We didn’t have plates, glasses, fancy napkins, or chairs. But, we had the best food Woodstock had to offer. And, there’s nothing like eating in a refrigerator. In the summer, we set the air conditioner at 60, the lowest setting to keep the produce fresh. In the winter, we just didn’t have any heat.
We all ate the delicious food while I offered a few encouraging words.
“We broke an attendance record again last week.”
“They’re cutting food stamps again so more people will be coming next month.”
“We’ve got to do something about the cardboard. The building committee is really unhappy about the cardboard in the hallway. Can someone help pick up the cardboard and put it in Vanessa whenever it appears to be piling up?”
“We’re really short of items of dignity. There’s no shampoo, deodorant, or toothpaste in the closet. Peggy, can you call a church and see if you can get a drive going?”
“What food do we have in the barn?”
“We’ve got a benefit concert coming up next month. Is anyone volunteering at this event?”
“Thurman, we’ve got to start packing the take outs. Can you cut this short?”
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Peace and food for all.
This is the only post for this week. I’m spending the remainder of this week on special pantry activities. I hope to join you again with blogs on Friday.
Thurman Greco
Support a Homeless Friendly Pantry
“In a land of great wealth, families must not live in hopeless poverty. In a land rich in harvest, children just must not go hungry.” – Lyndon B. Johnson
So, what is a homeless-friendly pantry? What makes a pantry homeless friendly, anyway? And, how can I support such a pantry?
For starters, a homeless friendly pantry doesn’t require discriminatory identification. Homeless people living in their cars or on the porch of an unoccupied home, or in an abandoned building cannot offer proof of address. Nor should they be asked to. A shopper’s address does not belong on the list of needed information.
A homeless-friendly pantry stocks foods which homeless people can eat. Those foods include fruits and vegetables which can be eaten raw. Canned goods for homeless people have pop tops which don’t need can openers.
A homeless friendly pantry offers salads in containers that homeless people can eat out of. Salad dressings are best in small packages or containers.
Individual containers of yogurt, cottage cheese, are good choices along with small containers of milk, juice, and packages of cheese.
Peanut butter, jelly, crackers, and bread are essential. Protein bars and cereal bars should be available at all times.
A homeless-friendly pantry offers at least five items of canned/boxed/bagged food per person to a household.
A homeless-friendly pantry offers 50% fresh produce to its shoppers. Produce which can be eaten raw such as carrots, cherries, lettuce, celery, sweet peppers, is very important to the health of a homeless person to have access to fresh fruits and vegetables.
The most important thing a homeless-sensitive pantry offers is a respect for all shoppers regardless of their living conditions, their health issues, and their disabilities.
The best way to support a homeless-friendly pantry is by sending money and donating food.
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Peace and food for all.
Thurman Greco
Homeless….2
“Homeless is not a category of people. It’s just a situation that happens. It can happen to anyone.” – Salvador Altamirano-Segura
GENE ESTESS died in April at 78. Mr. Estess is best known for abandoning a lucrative career on Wall Street to aid the poor, mentally ill, addicted people, and homeless in Harlem and the South Bronx. He directed the Jericho Project, a Manhattan-based nonprofit for 18 years. The Jericho project serves about 1500 adults and children, including many military veterans by offering housing and other services.
MIZUNO USA, a running shoe manufacturer, is introducing a new campaign to encourage running. Mizuno will partner with Back On My Feet, a national nonprofit organization which works with the homeless to transform their lives through running. Later this year, Mizuno will donate a dollar to Back On My Feet, for every mile a person runs for a week.
DR. PHILIP BRICKNER, a physician who made housecalls, died recently. Dr. Brickner is best known for helping to develop ways to treat homeless people.
Dr. Brickner began his unique focus on medical care in the late 1960’s when he set up “free clinics” at hotels and other places where homeless people lived.
His innovations became the basis for the McKinney-Vento Homeless Act of 1987. This act mandated medical services in shelters and food lines.
THE MISSION CONTINUES, a new organization composed of veterans returning from service in foreign wars, works to help fellow veterans. Service platoons now exist in approximately nine cities with plans to have service platoons in thirty cities by the end of 2014.
The 1st Platoon NYC is renovating housing for veterans and building a playground.
The 1st Platoon works with the Arizona Coalition to End Homelessness by combing the streets for chronically homeless vets and registering them to get housing and other services.
ANDREA ELLIOTT of the New York Times was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize for her impressive series “Invisible Child,” about the homeless girl named Dasani.
JAMES BOYD, a homeless man camping in the Sandia foothills outside Albuquerque, NM, was shot and killed at a protest in March. Mr. Boyd was a mentally ill homeless man. His death was captured on video by a camera attached to a police officer’s helmet.
Mr. Boyd’s death brings focused attention on the growing number of severely mentally ill people who are living without mental health services.
JEROME MERDOUGH, a 56-year-old Marine – homeless and suffering from mental illness – died while in custody on Rikers Island in February, 2014. Mr. Murdough died after being left unattended in his cell for hours while the temperature there climbed above 100 degrees.
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Peace and food for all.
Thurman Greco
What About the Pantry Line? Well…What About it? Info for the New Shopper
Food pantries are all about lines. Unless the food pantry you visit is brand new and nobody knows about it yet, the chances are you’re going to stand in a line. Maybe for only a few moments…maybe for an hour or more.
Don’t fret. This is your time to look, listen, and learn.
How long has the person in front of you been coming to the pantry? What advice does this person have for you?
People in lines have a tendency to speak about what’s going on in their lives. You, as a new pantry shopper can learn a lot by just listening and asking questions.
Are you going through a a foreclosure, for example? With luck, you’ll meet a person who’s walked down this street and who is willing to share his/her story. You may learn some helpful information.
Are you trying to get registered for SNAP? You’ll find tips from people in this line?
Perhaps you need your car fixed and don’t have the money for the expensive dealership repairs. The pantry line is a good place to network for names of two or three people who fix autos for less.
You will meet many, many kinds of people in the pantry line and the tendency the first two or three visits is to feel like you’ll never fit in here…and also to feel like you don’t want to ever fit in.
That’s a totally appropriate feeling. But, one of the big things happening at a pantry is meeting all kinds of people. I, personally, feel like it’s an important part of the journey.
Ideally, a pantry line is a safe space. It’s an opportunity to feel unafraid and to feel as if you are part of a community…which you are.
Thank God for the opportunity to meet the people and be a part of this community. The pantry line offers you an opportunity to enrich your life.
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Peace and food for all.
Thurman Greco
Pets of the Good Neighbor Food Pantry in Woodstock, New York
“Until one has loved an animal, a part of one’s soul remains unawakened.” – Anatole France
One of the most tragic things I witnessed in the pantry was a person giving up a pet because s/he could no longer feed it.
The second most tragic thing I witnessed in the pantry was a person getting food in the pantry for the pet when there was no pet food available. First would come the hopeful question: “Is there any pet food today?” When the answer was “no.”, the person simply went to “Plan B” and take all the allowed items that could possibly be fed to a dog: cereal, bread, canned stews and meats, dried or liquid milk, green beans, carrots, potatoes.
As the economy tanked, people began to give up their pets when they could no longer buy food, grooming, and veterinary visits.
“Hi Thurman. Brian Shapiro here. How are you today?”
“I’m fine Brian. What can I do for you?”
“It’s not what you can do for me Thurman. It’s what I can do for you. Can you use a carload of pet food?”
“Brian, my shoppers are always looking for ways to get food for their pets. Can I send Barry over today? What’s a good time for you?”
Brian and I had this conversation several times over a span of time when shelters everywhere were overwhelmed with dogs. He called from the SPCA in Kingston. The theory was that if they could keep pet food available to the people, then they could prevent the shelter from being overloaded. This helped.
For several months we had a steady supply of food for our pantry dogs and cats. However, all was not well received with the building committee and after awhile we were forbidden to carry any food which was not for humans.
I was never comfortable stocking pet food after that. One winter I stocked cat litter claiming that it could be used for icy sidewalks and driveways.
We had many wonderful pets in our lineup at the pantry. Some of them accompanied their owners to shop at the pantry weekly.
Dianne Dunne had a large black Labrador retriever, Bear, who went with her everywhere. When she came into the pantry, he placidly stayed in the car. In the summer the windows were rolled down and he never jumped out.
Morningstar Raindance always traveled with an energetic short haired chihuahua. She tied Unity to the fence outside the entrance of the pantry. He patiently waited for her while she shopped. When it was cold, she dressed him in a little brown coat.
Cowboy had a very large shorthaired hound mix whom he totally adored. Helena went everywhere with Cowboy. She stayed outside in the yard when he shopped. One of Cowboy’s girlfriends made Helena a coat which she wore in the cold weather.
Diana had an Alaskan Malamute with one blue eye and one silver eye. She had disabilities and Whitey went with her everywhere. This created a bit of stress for us because of the health issues but she and Whitey always made it into the pantry. Diana was a beautiful young woman who definitely needed assistance. Guy Oddo was always on hand to help her read the labels on the cans/boxes, put items into her bags, and carry them to her car…which Diana then drove away. While all of this was happening, Whitey stuck to her like glue – protecting and guiding her.
Father Woodstock and Lady Esther came to the pantry weekly with Hector, their little Lhasa Apso mix. Hector rode in the colorful cart Father Woodstock used when he brought Lady Esther to shop. Father Woodstock and Lady Esther both wore beautiful dresses made of floral silk prints. The color emphasis was red. They dressed up their ensembles with silk kimonos. When they didn’t wear kimonos, they liked ornate silk jackets. They liked long skirts. They both also liked Teva sandals. Both of them painted their toenails. And, of course, both of them had long silver hair and beards.
“Father Woodstock is coming!” announced their runner every time they were on their way to the pantry. He served as the town herald.
Sure enough, within five minutes, Father Woodstock, Lady Esther, and Hector arrived. Father Woodstock always parked the cart at the entrance under the shade of a tree so Hector wouldn’t get overheated.
While Hector waited outside in the cart, Father Woodstock and Lady Esther came in, signed in the register, and shopped. Father Woodstock always told the women how beautiful they are as he tooted a little bicycle horn attached to his walking stick for emphasis.
The Sisters came weekly in a SUV with all their children, one of the women’s husbands, and a little lhasa apso mix, Pokey. The Sisters, between them, had nine children. Everyone patiently waited while they shopped. With a household that large, the amounts of food which went went out to the car were enormous. They carried away cases of USDA, armloads of bread, and anything else they could get that was edible. Even with so many people in the household, they only got one roll of toilet paper and one other item of dignity.
While all this was happening, Brandy, who lived next door in the Woodstock B&B on the Green, was out in the B&B garden greeting the many shoppers. Brandy, herself, was always perfectly groomed and behaved. People liked having Brandy in the garden while they were waiting to get into the building. She was a little bit of a distraction.
She was also a strong grounding influence, something badly needed when the weather was extreme and the lines long.
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Peace and food for all.
Thurman Greco
Children in the Good Neighbor Food Pantry in Woodstock
Everything tells us that children who grow up in poverty are much more likely to be adults in poverty.” – Peter Edelman
Invisible, almost, children came with their parents to the pantry weekly for food. These children are so well behaved in the line and in the pantry. How those kids stood in line with their parents all that time every week and remained well behaved, I’ll never know.
As more and more households work more and more hours at minimum wage jobs to pay more and more money for rent, more and more families are appearing in pantry lines.
That means children. Prior to 2008, there were few to no children in the line at the Good Neighbor Food Pantry in Woodstock. “There weren’t any lines either. With the downfall of the economy, more and more children were seen in the hallways.
For the most part, these children were beautiful, alert, intelligent. They were brought by parents or grandparents to shop for a three-day supply of food which lasted seven days.
Every time I saw a child in the pantry I was grateful for the efforts our pantry volunteers made weekly to get the most nutritious food we could find and being back to our pantry. The pantry carried some cookies, cakes, and occasional bags of chips. For the most part, our food was the best we could find. Anything organic we could find was brought back to our pantry.
Every time I saw a child in the pantry I was grateful for the efforts of their parents and grandparents made weekly to bring them to get the most nutritious food available because Woodstock had no supermarket.
People bought food in Woodstock at the CVS, RiteAid Pharmacy, Cumberland Farms, and Woodstock Meats. Woodstock was also home of the famous Sunflower Natural Foods Market but many of our shoppers simply couldn’t afford the prices there. Ditto for Sunfrost. Technically, Woodstock, New York, is a grocery store desert. The nearest grocery store is Hurley Ridge Market, an IGA, located seven miles out on Rte 375 in the community of West Hurley. There is no sidewalk to this store. A Price Chopper is eleven miles away in Saugerties on Route 212.
One household with children came to the pantry weekly with their parents. This household was a household of volunteers. They shopped at the pantry, too. When the pantry was open, Robert and Mikey were there with their parents Richard and Jamie Allen.
Richard stood outside the building as the pantry was opening.
Richard carefully watched the parking lot to keep the chaos down.
Richard managed the hallway.
Richard totally knew the stock in the storeroom.
Richard made sure everyone shopping at the pantry had help getting their food to their cars.
Richard made friends with everyone in the shopper line.
Richard walked down to the barn several times each afternoon when the pantry was open.
Richard stood in the pantry room when the shopping line was overcrowded.
Richard was always on the lookout for anything which might upset the flow of the people into the pantry.
Richard taught Robert to help out in the pantry.
Richard taught Robert to break down the used cardboard boxes.
Richard and Robert did their best to keep the cardboard out of sight.
Richard taught Robert to help out in the barn.
Richard taught Robert to haul groceries out to the shoppers’ cars.
Richard taught Robert to get the handcart ready for the food when a large household came shopping so there wouldn’t be so much heavy lifting.
Richard didn’t teach Robert to climb to the top shelves in the storeroom to retrieve much needed items. Robert learned that on his own.
Robert, 10, loved food…any kind of food. Whenever Robert wasn’t otherwise occupied helping out in the pantry, breaking down cardboard boxes, helping his dad in the storeroom, the barn or the parking lot, he liked to come to the pantry room and eat anything that didn’t eat him first…raw. I always felt Robert is destined to be a chef someday.
Little Mikey, 5, was never unhappy or trying to get into trouble. Mikey wanted nothing more than to help out in any way possible. Of course, being 5, Mikey invented ways to help if we didn’t give him direction. All in all, he was a gift to the pantry, smiling and greeting everyone who came. For many, this was transformational. Mikey was therapy.
Everyone at the pantry smiled when the Allens showed up to volunteer. They had their own little caravan going. Rich drove in with Robert riding shot gun. They had a bright chartreuse repurposed ambulance which still had the sirens.
Jamie drove a 22-year-old red Ford pickup with a black camper top which Richard and Robert kept going.
Jamie helped assemble the food for the take out bags.
Jamie helped pack the take out bags.
Jamie helped in the hallway.
Jamie assisted the older and infirm shoppers.
Jamie was loved by everyone.
Children are important in a pantry. For one thing, there are many malnourished children needing the food offered by pantries. It’s estimated that 75% of the people shopping at pantries are food insecure which means they don’t have enough food to eat on a regular basis.
It’s also estimated that 25% of the people receiving food at pantries are children. Malnourished children experience more learning difficulties and more illnesses. Hungry children have a difficult time learning. They get sick more often than their well nourished classmates.
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Peace and food for all.
Thurman Greco
What Goes Up Sometimes Goes Down!!!!
Ron Van Warmer told us today: “The new statistics on elder hunger are now one in seven.”
I rejoiced! Ron, Associate Director of the Food Bank of the Hudson Valley, was sharing the latest results of the 2012 Feeding America survey. The 2010 survey (in which I participated) reported the statistics at one in five. The new information tells me fewer seniors are going to bed at night hungry than in the past.
Many people go to bed hungry at night these days but the elder hungry are a true tragedy. As a group, most retired citizens in our nation spent their lives working and paying taxes. Now that their incomes are limited and their expenses are not, they no longer have the money for food. They’re finding themselves, just like younger people in the new Struggling Class, choosing between food and gas, food and medicine, food and heating bills.
Seniors, as a group, are loathe to ask for food stamps or go to food pantries. They don’t see the pantry food given to them for what it is – our tax dollars at work. They overlook the fact that all the produce is diverted from a landfill. Most of the diverted produce in our area is both organic and gorgeous as well.
Instead, they see themselves as poor planners unable to care for themselves in their old age. They don’t take into account that the rules have drastically changed since 2008. Many senior citizens are afraid to ask for help getting SNAP or finding a pantry because they’re afraid that if someone finds out they don’t have enough food, they’ll end up in an assisted living center or nursing home.
Several weeks ago Sara called me from an apartment complex located in the forest off Route 28 in Ulster County. “Thurman, I want to thank all of you at the Reservoir Food Pantry for delivering food to us out here weekly. We’re miles from a grocery store or pharmacy and without your deliveries many of us would go hungry. In fact, recently, Mary was going hungry. I found out last month that she was completely out of food because she spent her food budget money on a birthday gift for a grandchild.
Thurman, I got myself in my scooter and rode from apartment to apartment asking for food from all the residents for her so she wouldn’t be hungry.”
This story really sends a message. When you realize that the woman telling me the story of how she went from apartment to apartment had lost both legs at the hip and one arm at the elbow. Her efforts to get food for a neighbor were astounding considering her obstacles.
When they finally reach the point where they can’t buy food anymore, seniors run a risk of getting sick which puts an additional burden on the children and grandchildren who will have to care for them. I know I don’t want to put this burden on my children. I feel that I’m not alone with this attitude. Food pantries are there for the hungry. Elderly poor are loathe to visit them. Instead of seeing a pantry for what it is: their tax dollars at work, they see only the shame of it all. Pantries are still taboo in our country. So, rather than experience the shame, they go without food.
Most pantries offer a three-day supply of food. Many offer fresh, organic produce, fresh dairy products, and freshly baked breads.
Hunger in America is a true hidden tragedy. No one in this great nation of ours should go hungry. When people, older people, experience living without sufficient food, it’s a crime.
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Peace and food for all.
Thurman Greco
Tom Pacheco
“Don’t Be Scared. Do Not Yield.” – Tom Pacheco
We stalked him for five whole days, Harriet Kazanski and I, in the weeks before the first music festival. We wanted the legendary Tom Pacheco to play for the crowd at the festival.
We went over to Maria’s at different times during the day because we knew he hung out there when in town. And, every time we went we heard pretty much the same thing: “He didn’t come in yet today. Try back around 5:00.”
Or, we’d hear: “You just missed him. He left a little while ago.”
Maria always had the most comforting smile. I felt like a teenager chasing a movie star. Tom Pacheco is a legend throughout the world and we were really hoping against hope.
When we finally tracked him down one afternoon about 4:00, he was wonderful. He turned us down on the music festival but he offered one better. “I’ll give you a concert. Here’s my phone number. Call me in the fall and we’ll schedule something in February. I want to give this concert for you. I’m writing a song about hunger.”
I shyly thanked him, got back in Harriet’s car and we drove away. Our hearts were singing!
And, give a concert he did! He gathered some of his friends: Brian Hollander, the Cupcakes, (Lyn Hardy, Elly Wininger, and Janice Hardgrove), Dave Kearney, Dan Wininger, and Norm Wennert.
Lucy Swensen of the Turning Mill designed the posters advertising the evening and they were posted all over town.
On a cold evening the following February we all gathered at the Community Center at 7:00 p.m. That was, of course, a really early time for Tom and the musicians but pantry people have their own time clock and this was the hour they chose.
Volunteers made cookies. Laura and Peggy brought coffee pots. Somebody else brought a tea pot. Coffee was made. Tea was brewed. The energy gathered.
People arrived. The event charge was all by donation. Some people dropped coins in the jar. Others brought bags of food for the pantry. Yet others wrote extremely generous checks.
The event managed itself. It was an evening right out of the old “Union Hall” days. Different performers got up, played their music, and then turned the mike over to the next person on the list.
Someone suggested that I get up and be the M.C. I didn’t dare. If I did, I would begin to talk about hunger and ruin everyone’s fun time. Tom knew exactly what to do. And it was a perfect evening. Tom is the consummate professional.
When Tom played his song about hunger, I cried.
Tom asked his triends to join him on the stage that night. At one point, he had the local newspaperman, Brian Hollander, play with him. I loved it. Tom would be playing and singing along and then tap his foot loudly and say “Hit it Brian!”
And, Brian would play his heart out.
Every person in that room had a wonderful evening. Tom did that for the pantry. We are eternally grateful.
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Peace and food for all.
Thurman Greco
