Hunger Is Not a Disease

August and the Beach on the Tannery Brook in Woodstock

THIS BLOG IS CELEBRATING ITS 10TH YEAR OF PUBLICATION!

August is a wonderful time to be in Woodstock.  The sun shines brighter.  The breezes are unbelievable.  Music is everywhere.  And, finally, there is that August moon.

Woodstock is mystical and magical and a little bit too good to be true all year round but August is special.

People put on their swimsuits, grab some snacks, and head down Tannery Brook Road to the stream.  We don’t need many more directions than that.  If it’s your first visit, you’ll know you’re there when you get there..

As you go down Tannery Brook, you’ll cross over the Brook at Hillside Terrace.

Keep going.  This isn’t the bridge you’re looking for.

Your next landmark is Streamside Terrace – on your left.  It’s a fully armed street:  Homeowners have put up “No Parking Signs” they got at Houst.  They’ve posted them on their street by the road.    Keep going past this street.

Next is the second bridge to cross Tannery Brook Road.  You’re almost there!  Cross over the bridge.  If you turn left after crossing the bridge, you’ll be on Millstream.  Going to the right will put you on Ohayo Mountain Road.

Just across the bridge, Tannery Brook dead ends at this intersection.  This is the place!  Town signs are all along the road: “NO PARKING”.  As far as I can tell, nobody, absolutely nobody, pays any attention to them.  Everyone is stricken with temporary blindness or something.

It’s crowded here.  The swimsuits are all the latest styles.  They get smaller every summer.

People jump around in the water, then sit on the little sandy beach.  Children play.  Teenagers play.   Adults play.  Parents play.

There is an absence of watches, timepieces, calendars and interest in the things we’re supposed to do.

There is maybe a boom box or two.  Maybe even a guitar.

Everyone loves hanging around the stream and the sand with one another – old and new friends.

But, on Wednesdays and Thursdays, not everyone wears a swimsuit.  On Wednesdays and Thursdays, some of the people are in street clothes minus their shoes.

They don’t have swimsuits.  But they do have a little time to play in the water before the food pantry opens.

After playing in the stream a few minutes before the pantry opens, they get out of the water, put their shoes back on, and head for the food pantry line.

When they begin to put on their shoes and head for the food pantry line, they remind us of the reality of August:

September is coming soon.

Labor Day comes the first Monday.  The Magical August Moon is gone and we are all wearing our winter boots – forgetting the summer’s magic we found in August.

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Let’s Live with Thurman Greco is a program aired weekly on Woodstock’s own educational TV Channel 23.  This show is an informative, upbeat hour with no rehearsals.  Some segments support the blog information and highlight Reiki Therapy, Hand and Foot Reflexology and other wellness subjects.

Guests are various people whose lives have brought them to Woodstock for a day, a week, an hour, a decade or more.  I can truthfully boast that guests report they enjoy the experience.

Let’s Live has been running for over 15 years with an occasional intermission, now and then.

Enjoy interesting and fun programs while getting a peek into Woodstockers being themselves.  Search “Let’s Live with Thurman Greco” on YouTube and check out the ever growing list of videos.

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Buy  this book from thurmangreco@gmail.com while the website is being repaired.  Once it is repaired, you can get it at www.thurmangreco.com

“Healer’s Handbook” is in its third edition.  So far, this book has gone out to three dozen different countries.  The best way to order this book is to contact me at thurmangreco@gmail.com.  To celebrate our 10th anniversary, this book is on sale for $10!

The books are all listed on www.thurmangreco.com but the website is undergoing repairs and upgrades.

“But for Gabriel” is available as both ebook and paperback at thurmangreco@gmail.com. This book is also on sale:  $10!

Contact me at thurmangreco@gmail.com with questions and comments.

Thanks again!

Thurman

Thank You for the Small Pains I Get in the Pantry

Lord, you know I do need them, of course.

For each sore shoulder pain or back spasm that goes away after a while:  THANK YOU!

The small pains remind me of all the pantry work that needs to be done every day. When the small pains come around, they remind me to pray for more volunteers.

So, thanks for the sneezing fits and scratchy throats I get every delivery day.

The last time I had a sharp pain on delivery day, I caught myself praying in surprise.  And, guess what!  The entire Roberts family showed up to help.  It was just a miracle – that’s all.

And, one afternoon, I had a shoulder pain during the pantry shift and a volunteer stepped out of the line and helped us all that day.  And, he kept returning every week for several months.

For me, these small pains are reminders that I should ask for help and be ready for it to show up!

What these pains mean is that I should also hold out hope for the coming miracles.

After all, miracles happened and I couldn’t hide from them.  I was in denial for the longest time but, eventually, I had to face facts.  When I finally owned up to their reality, I saw they were special miracles for a food pantry.

Stigmata, relics, icons, and visions weren’t appropriate for the pantry.

Nobody controlled how or when they happened, only whether or not they were seen for what they were.  I wasn’t focused on the miracles because I was busy paying attention to lifting boxes, stocking shelves, filling out forms, driving to the dump with the trash.

And, so, Lord, I promise to try to ask for help when the pantry needs it.

Meanwhile…thank you…and…Amen

THANKS FOR READING THIS POST!  It’s been a long time, hasn’t it?

I have a whole volume’s worth of meditations, devotions, short stories filled with gratitude and thanksgiving.

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My guests are various people whose lives have brought them to Woodstock for a day, a week, an hour, a decade or more.  I can truthfully boast that my guests report they enjoyed the experience and will be happy to return.

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It is my latest book about food pantries, hunger, and Woodstock.

ENJOY!

 

Everyone shopping at a pantry has a first visit

 

A first-time shopper in a food pantry looks at the available foods and the question coming to mind is “How am I going to get a meal out of this?”

Supermarket shoppers push some foods aside, choosing other items.  When that happens, a store manager sends the rejected boxes and cans to the food bank where they land at the last stop:  a food pantry somewhere.

Foods ending up on a pantry shelf are often unrecognizable to the ordinary person shopping at the supermarket.

Food pantry shoppers may not know how to make their future happen but they know standing still isn’t the answer.  To be hungry is to search for spiritual sustenance, mental stamina, physical endurance, emotional balance, and food.

People go hungry when the income, whatever its source, isn’t enough to meet the cost of living.

When a person lives with hunger, just waking up in the morning and going through the day challenges heart and soul.  A normal existence seems impossible.  Every chance at happiness seems lost.

Most food pantry volunteers and shoppers I know are in a reconstructing and healing mode.  Life is finally improving!  After losing everything, getting things right again means taking many steps.  For some it means “No matter how hard I try, I’m never going to be able to fix this mess”.

But this isn’t necessarily true.  Hunger doesn’t rob us of every chance for happiness.  Figuring this all out means trying new things again and again and again.

Food insecurity leads to questioning everything including our basic beliefs because they failed us from the getgo.  For many, searching for a stable food supply, a roof, gas in the car, clothes, and healthcare becomes a search for God.

The soul needs compassion, forgiveness, and the ability to give more than take.

When shoppers don’t have enough food to eat, giving and sharing and believing are necessary.  Because there are no road maps for this trip, the soul becomes the guide.

Volunteering in the pantry changes lives and heals people.  My first visit to a food pantry changed my life.  In my heart, I feel a food pantry has opportunities waiting for us.  They are different for everyone, but they are there.

It takes much energy and time to find a food pantry you can get to and where you can shop.  A person can burn up many phone minutes doing this.  This experience strips away any illusions we have about ourselves and the world, and how our lives are unraveling.

Thank you for reading this blog post.  I feel you are reading this article for a reason.

Maybe you need a moment for yourself.  Maybe you are seeking information to change your life.  There are interesting, informative, and life changing articles on this blog which date back to 2013.

Maybe you can benefit from some of the information in this blog.  I feel that you can discover some strategies for boosting your life and times.

Please share this blog post with your preferred social media network and forward it to your friends and family.

 

Learn more about hunger and homelessness on YOUTUBE at “Let’s Live with Thurman Greco”

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Thanks again!

Thurman

5 Easy Steps to Your Successful Food Drive

 

It’s easier than you think.

Step 1:

Choose the food pantry, homeless shelter, school, church,  food bank,  or soup kitchen to receive  the food you collect.

Step 2:

Contact your recipient, and learn what items the hungry people need. Try to be specific. Can they only accept canned food items or can they use frozen and fresh foods?   What about pet food?

If they need pet food or food for homeless people, for example, request those items (with specific food item suggestions) at your drive.

Step 3:

Decide how you want to collect the donated food.

The method I prefer is, of course, the one that worked for me several times.   I recommend  this method:

Gather some large empty grocery bags in good condition.

Attach a letter to each one saying something like:

Dear Neighbor:

“We are having a food drive in this neighborhood.   Please fill this bag with food and set it out on your entryway on …………………………..  when it will be picked up between 00:00  and 00:00.  Include am and pm to be more specific.

We need the following kinds of food:……………………..

Your donated food will be donated to ………………………………   Thank you for your generosity.  If you have any questions, please call………………………………….    Signed…………………………………….”

Set the bags out at every address in the area you selected.

On the appointed date, return to the addresses and pick up the bags of food.

Step 4:

Deliver them to the selected food pantry, homeless shelter, school.

Step 5:

Pat yourself on your back.  You did a great job!

My experience with this  food drive method is that people respond positively because you give them bags, tell them exactly what food items you need, and return to pick up the food at a specific time on an exact date.

Thank you in advance for all you are doing to feed your neighbors.

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Share it with your friends.

Have a wonderful day!

Thurman Greco

www.hungerisnotadisease.com

 

Food Pantry Rules

A food pantry is what it is because of three things:

the economic situation at the moment

the volunteers

the people who shop there.

The people come together looking for groceries but often, they want and need far more.

While the coronavirus pandemic rages, the food pantry lines get longer every pantry day because people, families, deal with change they didn’t ask for.

In short, they are rewriting their destiny stories without a road map or instructions.

A number of the people in the pantry, both shoppers and volunteers,  didn’t know about food pantries until circumstances  set up a situation where they suddenly looked around a room and realized where they were.

There is a name for their category – SITUATIONAL POOR.

A person fits into the situational poor category when s/he lands in a situation created by an event such as a hurricane, fire, floor, pandemic, or other disaster which destroys the home, car, job.

Pantries offer much – peace, community, spiritual connection, groceries.  I always think of a food pantry in the basement of a church as a cross between a church service and a busy pizza place.

A food pantry, and those connected with it, are not a program.  They are a community.  As volunteers, all we really do is open the door.  As all the hungry people walk through the door, they undergo a change somehow.

Each person in a pantry, in whatever capacity, has experienced rejection in some way – too young, too old, too crazy, too sick, too poor, not poor enough.

The food pantry experience  does not heal a person, nor does it change the story.

The food pantry experience does not offer therapy.

The food pantry is, instead, a conduit for each person’s own healing.

FOOD PANTRY RULES

Sign your name in the register as you enter the pantry.

Find a place in line.

Do not crowd or block the door to the pantry room.

No more than 2 shoppers are allowed in the pantry at one time.

No more than one new shopper is allowed in the pantry at one time.

Shop for a three-day supply of food for everyone in your household.

Place your selections on the table as you shop.

Respect the restrictions on certain foods.

Finish your shopping in 10 minutes.

Once you begin to bag your groceries, do not continue to shop.

Because the food availability is different each time you shop, it is best to visit the food pantry weekly.

Thank you.

Thurman Greco

P.S.  The rules may be different at the pantry where you shop.  Each food pantry is different.  The space is different.  The times the pantry is open is different.  The management is different.

These  specific rules were used in the food pantry I managed where the people were many, the space small, and the hours few.

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