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.
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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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Thanks again!
Thurman
For the Brave and Diligent Shopper
Lord, this prayer is for the brave and diligent shopper. She walks in. And she never misses a week.
Lord, she is ferociously focused on getting to the pantry.
Looking neither left or right, dismissing the rain, or the cold, or the boiling heat, she makes her way each week through the crowded parking lot.
I pray for her grace, energy, and willpower. I pray that someone or maybe several someones can witness and celebrate her discipline and focus.
And, I pray that others will notice her voyage each and every week. I don’t want to be the only one who sees her gracefully make her way through the crowded shoppers waiting outside the pantry for it to open.
Lord, I know you sent her to lift our hearts: patient, lovely, graceful. She is our inspiration.
I think of her on shopping days when I drive to Albany for extra food. She keeps my own work ethic steady.
And, she lifts my heart.
So, thank you again for sending her.
Amen
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Please check out the YOUTUBE channel show. Renee, our own wizard, loads new episodes on Tuesdays. “Let’s Live with Thurman Greco” is a positive, entertaining series of conversations with local VIPs that I’ve conducted throughout the last 15 years or so. There have been a few intermissions throughout the years, but not many.
My guests enjoy being on the show and many ask to return. One thing we all have in common: we’ve all met each other somehow in Woodstock, NY
AND thank you for reading this article. This blog post, and the others soon to come, celebrate 10 years of Hunger is not a Disease.
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Thurman Greco
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
Healing 1: Serving the Hungry with an Understanding Heart
“You, God, are my God, earnestly I seek you; I thirst for you, my whole being longs for you, in a dry and parched land where there is no water.” – Psalm 63:1
“That person lives in Shandaken. He shouldn’t even be here.”
The pantry served shoppers, volunteers, hungry people. Volunteers fed everyone in the line. No exceptions.
Distributing groceries brought forgiveness and healing. Healing was an after thought of forgiveness.
For me, healing required some commitment and thought. Whether or not this was true, questions always arose:
“Am I ready to be healthy?”
“Can I get well if it’s scary?”
“Can I leave the old me aside if it’s necessary for healing?”
“Why am I going through this?”
“What is the meaning of it all?”
These questions could be painful. Healing can be hard on everyone.
The pantry line had massage therapists, Reiki practitioners, medical intuitives, and other healers.
As a healer, I know healing happens on several levels in our lives: physical, mental, spiritual, emotional, mythical. Both healing and getting well were special challenges because many of the people in the hallway, the pantry room, and out in the parking lot didn’t have health care.
While he had his office, Woodstock had Dr. Longmore. After his office closed, things were tough for many. As health care became scarce, everyone became personally involved with the differences between healing and getting well. For some, this was part of the spiritual journey.
Hunger often went beyond a plate of beans or a jar of peanut butter. That’s why food is essential to healing. That’s where homemade soup comes in.
Sharing food in the pantry helped people heal. Fresh vegetables, eggs, and Bread Alone bread offered a healing experience with abundance. As we fed the shoppers, we helped ourselves and each other.
In some cases, the shoppers became the volunteers or the volunteers joined the shoppers. Shoppers came to get food and found they could volunteer. Volunteering changed them. As a person distributed groceries, the volunteer made contact with another person and was able to smile.
Pantry experiences coaxed us out of our own problems. Offering a sense of community gives back so much more.
Do you want to be healed? Healing and feeding are connected.
Sooner or later, we all get sick. Finally, we die.
No one escapes. This truth is harder on hungry people who have no $$$ for health care.
Hungry people are often blamed for their inability to deal with the situation. It’s as if it’s their fault for being down and out in Woodstock. If they lived right, they would be healthier, make more $$$ in their jobs.
If critics stopped and thought about how insufficient nutritious food, improper housing, and inadequate or nonexistent healthcare impacts a person, they might feel differently.
What did it matter that there were no jobs in the area and none of those that came open paid over $8.00 an hour?
Because they were down and out, they must be guilty of something.
They were negative thinkers, lacking faith, and basically lazy. Something.
They were gay, trans, promiscuous, alcoholics. Something.
They were freeloaders, irresponsible, flaky. Something.
Healing and getting well are two different things, acting in different ways. But, whether a person heals, gets well, or both, change happens.
“Do I want to heal?”
“Do I want to be well?”
“What if I come out of this experienced a different person?”
“What if it takes a long time?”
In the midst of this, the pantry offered some normalcy to the shattered lives of hungry people when they took pantry food home to wherever and whatever that was, fixed a meal, and served it to those in the household.
It was supper from the pantry.
Health issues pointed to the spiritual challenges which popped up on the path to the pantry. Healing was on the agenda. We all wanted to get well.
People getting well overcome symptoms. Getting well means doctor’s visits, therapy, pills, creams. These things were simply not an option for pantry shoppers because there was no money.
Symbolic healing occurred in the hallway on pantry days as shoppers and volunteers discussed their diabetes, PTSD, cancer, allergies.
Working and shopping in the pantry was therapy to volunteers and shoppers. These hallway conversations were cheaper than the physical and mental health services they had no money for anyway.
These conversations were essential because talking about a health issue promotes healing. Shared symptoms gave us all support, strength, validity.
Everyone walking through the door to the pantry, whether a shopper or volunteer, was asked to leave the past behind. This experience was different for everyone. But, think about it, how can we move forward into our new lives if we never give anything up.
For some, giving up the past means letting go of things lost: the job, the home, maybe the family, self-esteem, the car, good health, money, insurance, the pet, anger, or drugs.
As the past disappears, the remaining spiritual baggage weighs less and less. Prejudices become fewer. Fears diminish. We heal!
Some things surrendered were physical, some mental, and some emotional. But, one thing is certain, whatever the category, the experiences all had a spiritual aspect.
Giving and receiving food brought everyone a little peace.
Everyone coming to the pantry heals somehow. The pantry community supports and approves hungry individuals as they climb back on the road to wellness and something offering normalcy.
Nobody just wakes up one day and says “I think I’ll go down to the local food pantry and volunteer.” People spending time in pantries all travel down the path. Healing has signposts along the way.
Some needed physical healing. Volunteers occasionally came to the pantry so ill that they were barely able to make it into the building. When this happened, I stationed them at the Items of Dignity table distributing toilet paper, shampoo, razors. They offered one roll of toilet paper and one other item to each shopper.
Each week, Deanna slowly walked the two blocks to the pantry and then worked in the hallway a couple of hours while she gathered enough energy to return home.
“Don’t forget your roll of toilet paper, Judith. We’ve got some hand cream today. Can you use that or would you prefer tooth paste?”
When Deanna finally couldn’t work in the hallway anymore, Rachel gracefully sat at the Items of Dignity table helping shoppers choose their two items. Rachel lived in nearby Mt. Tremper. Her living situation seemed somewhat precarious because every few months she looked for a new place to live. She lived in her car a couple of times.
Thank you for reading this blog post. This is the first food pantry article on healing.
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If you are interested in healing, please check out my other blog: www.reflexologyforthespirit.com.
Thanks again.
Thurman Greco
Woodstock, NY
PS: Many programs are now uploaded to YouTube. More are being added weekly. Enjoy!
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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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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