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.
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Peace and food for all.
Thurman Greco
1 Corinthians – A Puzzle I’m Trying to Solve
“I sometimes listen to politicians talk about the poor people, welfare and food stamps and notice no one ever talks about the enormous fear that comes with poverty and with the constant state of high anxiety. You feel as though there is a giant boulder gradually sliding down a mountainside towards you. Any disruption, any time day or night it could hurtle down and crush you.” – Sheila Moore
The first time I met the Pastor of Woodstock’s Christ Lutheran Church, she used a phrase I had never heard before: feeding the “unworthy hungry” as she lobbied against the new pantry guidelines set down by the Hunger Prevention Nutrition Assistance Program. I was mystified. What did this term mean? Where did it originate? I heard it again, off and on, at pantry meetings and occasionally in the hallway.
Because this term came from a Lutheran Minister, I did some research. I went to my computer and googled “unworthy hungry”. Up came a list of websites, all of which referred to the text in 1 Corinthians.
1 Corinthians, a book in the New Testament of the Bible, was written by Paul of Tarsus to followers in Corinth according to BibleStudyTools.com: “All believers are indispensable to the church.” The “unworthy hungry” I heard the Pastor refer to didn’t seem to match what I read at yearinthebible.com which spoke a lot about love: “Be on your guard, stand firm in the faith, be courageous, be strong. Do everything in love.” Mark Mattison in auburn.edu, concluded “The next time your church celebrates communion, take a look around the room and consider the brothers and sisters with whom you are communing…Drink deeply of the cup of forgiveness and thank God that Christ is coming soon to usher us in to the banquet hall where we shall celebrate with the saints in the body.”
Everything here I read was confusing because I didn’t read “unworthy hungry” in any of the quotes. What was the connection?
If what I read in 1 Corinthians was correct, the people who came to the pantry are not the “unworthy hungry”. They are, instead, coming to receive communion in the most basic sense. Instead of a sip of wine and a bit of communion wafer, they receive the food they need to sustain themselves in the coming week.
1 Corinthians seems, to me, to be more about how to conduct the sacrament not how to feed the poor.
This confirms my theory that pantries are, indeed, religious services, churches if you will. The pantry service offers neither theology nor creed nor rituals. The pantry service works through love. Feeding the hungry is a sacrament.
The “unworthy hungry” term relates to the way people abused the Lord’s Supper. I never saw anybody in the line at the Good Neighbor Food Pantry abusing anything except maybe their feet as they stood for extended periods of time. These people were, for the most part, respectful, grateful, hopeful. They were trying to make their way through life with insufficient money, food, healthcare, transportation, education, spiritual support.
“Thurman, how can you serve food to her? Her son works and she has a car. She shouldn’t get food.”
“Thurman, that woman lives in Kingston. You gave food to a family from Shandaken last week. Our pantry should be for Woodstockers only.”
“Thurman, that person’s car is too nice. How can you give food to a person with a car like that?”
“Thurman, the cardboard boxes from the Food Bank create an eyesore when the church people are entering and leaving the building on pantry day. Please keep the cardboard out of sight.”
“Thurman, you are serving entirely too much food to these people. You can’t do this.”
“Thurman, why are you serving fresh fruits and vegetables in the pantry? You shouldn’t do this.”
“Thurman, you’ve begun to open the pantry in the afternoons. Our pantry should not be open in the afternoons.”
“Thurman, you’re serving entirely too many people.”
“Thurman, you’re serving all the wrong people here.”
“Thurman, you’re filling this building with vagrants and riffraff. You need to keep the riffraff out.”
“Thurman, you don’t serve this kind of food to these people. They’re going out of here with $70-80 worth of fresh produce. This is wrong. I’m going to tell Pastor Sonja, Ed Jabbs, and Pastor Bode about this. I’m very close to Pastor Sonja and she’s not going to be happy. You’re feeding the unworthy hungry.”
“Thurman, why is the pantry open two days each week?”
“Thurman, you shouldn’t feed this food to these people. If they’re hungry enough, they’ll eat anything.
The term “unworthy hungry” was a popular phrase used as the amount and quality of food was discussed. The HPNAP guideline that the pantry serve a three-day-supply of food to include fresh produce, whole grain breads, and 1% milk was extremely unpopular to some people.
The subtext of this dialogue was that if the pantry didn’t give them the right kind of food or enough food, they would leave town…go to Kingston.
In order to understand the situation, a person needs to look at the whole picture.
Pantries are our tax dollars at work.
A popular refrain was that no one who lived outside of Woodstock should receive food from the pantry. Kingston had many pantries, soup kitchens, shelters. Saugerties had four pantries. Woodstock had two pantries. Bearsville had a pantry, Phoenicia had a pantry. Olivebridge had a pantry. Then there was a long dry spell until Margaretville. There were many poor and hungry people living along the Route 28 corridor from Woodstock to Margaretville. Where were these people to go for food?
They hitch hiked in. They rode the bus. They piled in cars. They came to the pantry in any and all kinds of weather.
They were hungry.
The struggle to get food to where it’s needed is never ending. The needs of the hungry were great. All we did, as a pantry, was open the door and let the hundreds of hungry people walk in…in groups of five.
But, that was only part of the story. At the lowest rung of the poverty ladder, it’s not what pantry the household is nearest. It’s where they can get to. If a person lives in Saugerties, for example, and the nearest pantry is open on Monday, it will be of no use to the person who can’t get to the pantry on Monday. However, if the pantry in Woodstock is open on Wednesday and the person can get a ride on Wednesday to the pantry, then that’s the pantry which will be used.
Pantry deniers concerned with feeding the “unworthy hungry” need to consider the source of both the food and the money. The Good Neighbor Food Pantry, a tax exempt 501(c)3 corporation, received funding from many sources outside Woodstock. The majority of the food came from Food Banks located in Latham and Cornwall.
Sponsors are very important to a pantry. Good Neighbor Food Pantry sponsors came from many locations. The Boy Scout Food Drive originated in Kingston at the Boy Scout Headquarters. The food itself came each year from a troop in Glenford. The annual United States Postal Service Food Drive included food from all over Ulster County. Shoprite in Kingston donated money annually. Wakefern Corporation donated funds annually to our pantry from their office in New Jersey. Walmart and Sam’s Club stores in Kingston and Catskill donated money. Hannaford’s in Kingston donated food boxes in December. One Saugerties family donated over $3000 annually. Markertek in Saugerties donated funds to the pantry. The ancient Order of Hibernians in Kingston donated money.
The list of individual donors located outside Woodstock is pages long. People throughout the country feel a connection to Woodstock and want to share.
Ethically, in order for the Good Neighbor Food Pantry to refuse to serve households outside of Woodstock, the pantry would also have to refuse donations from businesses, foundations, and individuals outside Woodstock. The pantry would have to stop getting food from the Food Banks.
Funding the pantry received from out-of-the-area donors far outweighed the shoppers who lived beyond the 12498 zip code.
I felt compelled to refer to Jesus. When Jesus fed people, he never asked who they were, where they lived, why they needed food. He simply fed the people. He made no mention of requiring people to show proper ID or live in a particular zip code. Additionally, He never preoccupied Himself with their character. He cared not whether they were ill, wealthy, thieves, criminals, etc. If they were hungry, they were fed.
In any event, both the argument I heard about feeding the “unworthy hungry” and my rebuttal never really amounted to more than so much hot air and anger being spread around the room.
The State of New York, through the management policies and guidelines of the Hunger Prevention Nutrition Assistance Program (HPNAP) determines who gets fed and who doesn’t get fed in a pantry. They are crystal clear. In 2012, a directive entitled “Open to the Public” was handed down to agencies. The “Open to the Public” feeding program policy includes all populations without regard to gender, race, color, ethnicity, age, nationality, citizenship, marital status, sexual orientation, religious affiliation, income, disability, or health status. We do not exclude any population group from receiving services upon first request or repeat visits to our pantry.
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Peace and food for all.
Thurman Greco
Food Banks Are All About Distributing Food To The Hungry.
When I visit the Food Bank of the Hudson Valley or the Food Bank of Northeastern New York, the thing that comes to mind is that everyone is focused on feeding the people.
Food Banks are all about getting food. The warehouse has bays for large 18-wheelers to bring in loads of food for distribution.
The produce area is always packed with both food and agency representatives shopping for food.
Food. Food. Food. That’s all that’s going on.
In the midst of all the hustle and bustle, in the midst of all the people trying to get as much food loaded into their rigs as quickly as possible, there are four women at the Food Bank of Northeastern New York who are on the front line focused on keeping the food flowing to the hungry.
Kathy, Bonnie, Michele, and Nora are on the job every single day.
They are the hub of the operation.
Everyone who calls in or walks into the Food Bank of Northeastern New York meets Kathy first. She’s got an infectious smile, a winning way. When I talk to Kathy, I know that all is right with the world.
The phones are ringing off the walls all day long everyday. But, when Kathy answers my call, I know that she’s got all day and a special message for me and me alone.
When I give a food order to Bonnie, Nora, or Michele, I know they’ve got my pantry’s best interest at heart.
Frankly, this attitude, this treatment, this mannerly approach is special. It’s also quite rare. When was the last time you spoke on the phone to someone who cared about you and your needs? It’s been years for me.
The Reservoir Food Pantry is new. The Reservoir Food Pantry is still small. The budget of the Reservoir Food Pantry is even smaller. So, it’s imperative that every order reflects the very best deals.
When I call the Food Bank, I’m looking for the new arrivals on the USDA front. This food is free and because of the pantry’s size and newness, we’re only allowed two cases of whatever USDA comes in. Other than that, I’m after the best deals to be found on the Donation List and the Surplus List. So, I call two or three days each week to get whatever is available.
Then, on the following Monday morning, Prasida and Roseann drive to Latham and Cornwall and pick up as much produce as they can load in their vehicles.
Prasida also gets the order from the conveyor belt (We have a standing 11:00 a.m. appointment for boxed foods).
“Hi Chris. What have we got today?…WOW! Look at those oranges! And those organic apples! What a prize! Onions. Carrots. Salads. Chris, thanks so much for all you do.”
It’s crowded out in the produce room also. Again, everyone who comes in contact with us is there to help us, to serve our needs, support our efforts to feed the hungry.
Inside the building offices there is a whole army of people working hard to see that food gets to the Food Bank so it can be distributed to us. It’s very comforting to know that, no matter how difficult our tasks are in our pantries, shelters, soup kitchens, we have strong support for the jobs we do.
With support like that, we can’t lose.
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Peace and food for all.
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
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
Reservoir Food Pantry Launches May Food Drive
The Reservoir Food Pantry in Boiceville, NY is launching an early summer food drive beginning today and running through the end of May.
All food and items of dignity you donate go directly to the needy who visit the pantry or to the needy who receive food packages delivered to their homes.
Funds donated are used to purchase food, items of dignity, and gasoline to go to Latham, NY to pick up food.
The Reservoir Food Pantry opened its doors last September 9th. Volunteers began by delivering food to homebound individuals and households in the area of the Ashokan Reservoir in Ulster County, New York. The numbers of people asking to use the Reservoir Food Pantry services has steadily increased since that time…so much so that the pantry is now distributing food three days weekly. People visiting the pantry or receiving food receive a three-day-supply of food.
People using the Reservoir Food Pantry are making hard choices. They’re choosing between food and medicine, or food and transportation, or food and rent.
Many are food insecure. They are struggling to have enough food to eat. And, they are going hungry.
Children are not exempt from this situation. Volunteers at the pantry work hard to see that the children of families using the pantry have enough to eat.
To donate food or items of dignity, please drop them off at the Community Bank in Boiceville, and the Olive Town offices.
If you prefer to send a check, please make it out to the Reservoir Food Pantry, P. O. Box 245, Boiceville, New York, 12412.
It’s easy to include the Reservoir Food Pantry in your gift giving plans. Simply send a check to the Reservoir Food Pantry and include the name and address of the person receiving the gift. We’ll send them a lovely card telling them that a gift was sent in their name.
Traditionally, donations of food and/or money to food pantries decline in the summer. Often, by August, pantries are dangerously low on food. Their supplies are depleted. We are determined to avoid this situation in the Reservoir Food Pantry if we possibly can. We are working to have enough food on hand to meet the increased need throughout the coming summer months…and beyond.
We thank you for your generosity. We thank you for supporting a local charity. We thank you for thinking of those around you who are in need at this time.
For more information, please call 845-399-3967.
Peace and food for all.
Thurman Greco
Reservoir Food Pantry – Then and Now
One thing about our pantry that makes us different is that we’re feeding people on a weekly basis ” – Deborah Nigrelli
I walked through the torn plastic curtain covering the entrance to the produce room exactly at 10:30 last Monday morning, just like always.
Except, it wasn’t like always. We hadn’t shopped for produce at the Food Bank in six months.
We parked the van in a slot, raced over to the edge of the Food Bank building and grabbed the only metal flat bed cart available – a 3′ x 5′ wheeled platform to hold all the precious cargo we hoped to find here.
For a few moments, it felt as if we’d shifted into another dimension. Everything looked the same – but it wasn’t. It was as if someone had built a theater set of the Food Bank produce room to trick or fool us. My knee jerk reaction was to ask myself “Where am I…?” Fifty or so years ago, I would have said that I had dipped into the Twilight Zone. But, we don’t say that anymore and I don’t know what people say now anyway.
Then, reality hit. This was the same place with six hard months of wear and tear later. The produce area had simply been “rode hard and put up wet” as my grandmother used to say.
Even the produce cart wasn’t right. It had seriously aged in the last six months. Two wooden slats were missing and one wheel appeared to be about to fall off. We wheeled it over to the produce area. Even though the distance was less than fifteen feet, we doubted the cart would make it. As soon as we got the cart to the produce, we got excited.
Smells waked up our noses: pineapple, oranges, lemons, limes, bananas, onions, tomatoes, asparagus, spinach, lettuce, potatoes, onions, eggplant, broccoli, bread, cakes. We piled it all on the cart as quickly as possible before one of the younger, faster, stronger pantry volunteer shoppers crowded in the room could swoop down and grab all the precious food before us.
It can happen. It has happened. More than once.
“Hey Thurman, look at those pineapples! How many should we get?” she asked as she loaded food onto the cart as fast as she could get her hands on the boxes.
“Listen grab all those carrots. They’re organic.” As I spoke those words, I hefted the 100-lb bag onto the cart.
“Well, look at the apples. They’re organic too.” On the cart went three cases. And, on and on it went. We walked down the line.
In truth, most of the food is organic. It’s also “past its prime” so it’s donated to the Food Bank. Everything given to the Food Bank has been left on the shelves at the super market because it was too old, too big, too small, bruised, misshapen, and left on the shelves at the super market.
In truth, it’s all diverted to the Food Bank on its way to the the landfill.
In truth, I have much in common with this produce. I’m too old, too misshapen, too big, and I’ve been passed by a a few or so times in my life…especially in the recent past.
Shopping here today was like seeing an old friend after a long absence. “Wow. She’s aged. Wow. We’ve all aged.”
For a moment I felt myself aging.
For a moment, I saw myself for what I am – an aging crone accompanied by a retired Woodstock herbalist turned Hindu (Amma) devotee – struggling to lift case after case of food that I shouldn’t lift. But, who else was there?
This haul was some kind of miracle (they all are, actually.) We loaded all this precious food along with cases of cereal, whole wheat pasta, canned green beans, and canned fruit cocktail in the hold of Vanessa, an also aging Dodge Grand Caravan, and returned to Boiceville. We arrived just in time to set up our tables in front of the Wastewater Treatment Plant before the first shoppers arrived.
They trickled up, slowly, some a little hesitant, trying to figure out how to act at a food pantry. Soon, people were visiting, chatting, getting to know one another over apples, asparagus, onions.
In a pantry, we feed alcoholics, artists, child abusers, children, colorful characters, crazies, the disabled, druggies, drunks, elderly men and women, hardworking people juggling two and three jobs, homeless, mentally ill, messed-up people, musicians, normal people, people battling terminal illness, politicians, schizophrenics, thieves, veterans, writers, and volunteers.
Today was a little different from other Mondays, however. We doubled our numbers this week.
This event could have “thrown” other volunteers, just as the appearance of the Food Bank “threw” me earlier in the morning. But, not this crowd. Because all of us working at the Reservoir Food Pantry are experienced, we just went into expansion mode. Before 3:00, we were discussing where we’re going to put the new shelves we’re buying and what specifications our next truck is going to have.
Because, we all know one thing: census numbers rise in a pantry. They don’t go down. The Boiceville area has needed a pantry for awhile so we’re prepared to expand to meet the demand created by the increasing number of shoppers.
Our job is to make sure that we get enough food on our Monday morning trips to Latham…no matter what
Peace and food for all.
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Thurman Greco
Salt in the Food Pantry World
If what the historians tell us is correct, people have been eating salt for over 6000 years. They’ve also been using salt in all kinds of industries. And, in fact, only 6% of the salt manufactured in the world today is used for food according to the Maldon Salt Company.
Salt has, throughout time, played a significant part in wars, commerceand religion throughout the world.
In 1930, Gandhi led a march of 100,000 people protesting a salt tax levied by the British.
It is believed by some historians that ancient trading routes throughout the world began when different cultures bought and sold salt.
Salt is used in religious ceremonies in all the major world religions.
Salt is still an important commodity for all of us.
Before the Good Neighbor Food Pantry got sooo crowded and before our time was sooo limited in the pantry, the shoppers got to read the labels on the cans.
This was important for our shoppers. After all, most of them had no health care to speak of. Their only means of caring for themselves was eating properly.
What a challenge in a pantry!
A typical pantry shift included many people reading canned good labels trying to figure out which items had safe levels of salt, sugar, added chemicals, preservatives, hydrogenated fats, artificial colors, flavors, high fructose corn syrup.
One of the basic problems with pantry canned goods was the prevalence of products with outrageous amounts of salt.
We had a number of seniors suffering with hypertension and a low salt food product was important to them.
This issue still exists in pantries to a certain extent even though the Hunger Prevention Nutrition Assistance Program people began limiting the availability of many high salt products on our food order inventory.
Everyone, pantry shopper or not, is encouraged to reduce sodium intake to less than 2300 milligrams a day. That’s about 1 teaspoon. Adults over 50, and people with high blood pressure, diabetes, or chronic kidney disease should reduce the sodium intake to 1500 per day.
So, how can this be done most easily?
EAT FRESH FOODS. THEY ARE LOWER IN SODIUM THAN PROCESSED FOODS. Stay away from cheesy foods (pizza), bacon, sausage, hot dogs, deli meats, canned chili, canned ravioli, and canned soups.
EAT AT HOME. The meals you prepare at home are more nutritious because you’re in control of the ingredients.
EAT PLENTY OF VEGGIES AND FRUITS. Fresh/frozen vegetables and fruits have much less sodium. Try to eat them at every meal.
CHOOSE PRODUCTS THAT ARE LOWER IN SALT. This means choosing fat-free or low-fat milk, yogurt.
Choose fresh meats rather than eating deli meats which have much more salt. Choose unsalted nuts.
FORGET THE SALT. Remove the salt shaker from the kitchen counter and the dining table. Choose spices, herbs, vinegar, lemon juice, pepper instead.
READ THE LABELS ON THE FOOD. Choose foods which are labeled “low sodium”, “reduced sodium” and “no salt added.”
CHOOSE LOW SODIUM CONDIMENTS. Some condiments such as soy sauce, pickles, olives, salad dressings are high in salt. Choose the low sodium variety.
And, of course, it’s all about choice. Choice is a rare commodity if you are shopping in a food pantry because you have no money. (And, why else does one shop in a food pantry?)
Food pantry shoppers have very little control over what they eat because they can’t afford to shop in the grocery store with thousands of choices. Neither can they afford to shop in the farmer’s market.
One way people can help the situation is by donating healthy foods to a pantry. As a donor of food to a pantry, you are the one making the choice. When you choose, for example, to give a low sodium soy sauce to a food drive, you are responsibly choosing a healthier product for someone who has absolutely no money to make such a choice.
Thank you for shopping and donating healthy foods to your food pantry and soup kitchen.
Thanks for reading this blog/book.
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Please send a comment.
Peace and food for all.
Thurman
