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.

Thank you for reading this article.  If you liked it, please share it with your favorite social media network and send it to your family and friends.

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.

Please let me know what you think:  thurmangreco@gmail.com

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

10 Things You Can Do to Help the Homeless

Persons with no fixed address live in what some refer to as an “invisible world”.  With your help, they may not be stuck there. Making their day-to-day lives a bit easier is helpful and important.  There ARE things you can do.

This list of ten things to do may seem a little bizarre to you.  But, a List of Shelters is very different from a List of Food Pantries or Soup Kitchens.

If you take this list seriously and use some of the suggestions, you’ll understand.

You’ll see.

But, whether you try to do one item or all ten, I send you gratitude.  The things you do will ripple kindness out beyond your circle.  And, right now, kindness is needed desperately.

DEVELOP A LIST OF SHELTERS

Search out local shelters and create a list card.  List each shelter by location and include phone numbers and a bit of information which may be helpful to those without addresses.

Distribute copies of this card to homeless people.

MAKE A LIST OF FOOD PANTRIES

A homeless-friendly food pantry distributes  ready-to-eat items like peanut butter and crackers in individual packets, cereal and milk in individual containers. Some food pantries offer small containers of fresh fruits and vegetables.

Search out area food pantries that are homeless friendly.  Make an info card listing hours and days each pantry is open.  Include the phone number, address and directions to get there.

Distribute copies of this card.

INCLUDE A LIST OF SOUP KITCHENS

Search out area soup kitchens.  Make an info card listing hours and days each soup kitchen is open.  Include the phone number and address with directions to find it.

Carry copies of this card to distribute.

DONATE CLOTHING

Organizations serving the homeless always need gently used items in good condition.  They need items in all sizes from infant to XXL and beyond.

Blankets and sleeping bags are in demand year round.

People are always asking for socks.

DONATE GROCERIES

Because the homeless carry their kitchens in their pockets, their food needs are specific:  peanut butter and crackers in individual containers, individual packets of vegetables and fruits to be eaten raw (such as strawberries or carrots), cereal packed in individual containers, milk packed in individual containers.

When someone in your community conducts a food drive, donate a bag full of homeless-friendly foods.

If no one is having a food drive, fill a grocery bag with food  and take it to   your local food pantry, shelter, or soup kitchen.

Better yet, hold a food drive yourself.

In the past I’ve blogged posts about holding a food drive.  Several dates of these posts include May 3, 2018, January 13, 2021 – February 11, 2021 – February 25, 2021.  There are others.

Food drives are not difficult and they can be fun.  Everyone should have the experience.  Email me if you have questions.  thurmangreo@gmail.com

VOLUNTEER AT A SHELTER

Shelters depend on volunteers to sign people in, and cook and serve meals.  Depending on the resources of the shelter, you may be able to do other things such as helping kids with homework, teaching ESL classes, writing resumes.

VOLUNTEER AT A SOUP KITCHEN

Soup kitchen volunteers pick up donations of food, help prepare and serve meals, cleaning up at the end of the shift.

VOLUNTEER AT A FOOD PANTRY

Volunteering at a food pantry is a community experience.  I did it for years.  Never, at any moment, did I feel I was wasting my time.

SHARE A MEAL

Whenever you leave your home, bring a bagged meal to share with a person on the street.

ADVOCATE

When you do a few of the things on this short list, you will find yourself involved in your community, even if that was not your intention.

Your interest in hunger and homelessness automatically makes you an advocate – even if you don’t think you are.  When you help feed hungry and homeless people, you are fighting hunger in our country.

Most people in food pantries distribute a 3-day supply of food to everyone in each household.

But, however you see yourself, your good work, kindness, and generosity will ripple out beyond yourself and your community.

One thing is for sure, we need more good work, kindness, and generosity rippling out.

Something else happens when you share info cards, bagged lunches,  food, and sleeping bags:

The homeless people you interact with begin to lose their invisibility.  You  replace that invisibility with respect when you treat them as individuals.  Courtesy,  kind words and a smile will change not only your life but theirs. .

You may even learn someone’s name!

 

Thank you for reading this blog post.  Please share it with your favorite social media network.

Forward it to a friend or relative.

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

Hats, aprons, T-shirts, and books are available at www.thurmangreco.com

Having touble finding  YOUTUBE interviews?  Send an email to thurmangreco@gmail.com.  We’ll get you there!

Thanks!

Thurman Greco

One last commercial here:  A “HOPE on the ROAD” presentation was recorded and is on YOUTUBE.  Tune in to YOUTUBE to benefit from this presentation.

I can present a segment of “HOPE on the ROAD” to your library, your organization, your class, your group.

If you are a Reiki practitioner, “HOPE on the ROAD” is easy to learn so you can present it to people in your area.

There is no charge for “HOPE on the ROAD”. To participate in “HOPE on the ROAD”, contact me at thurmangreco@gmail.com.

Thanks again,

Thurman

It’s Food Drive Time!

This is the season for a food drive! It’s food drive time!

Food drives are important in the spring and early summer because food pantry shelves are depleted now.  Storerooms are empty.  The emptiness will continue from now until the fall.

It’s food drive time!

Food pantries everywhere are trying to build their stocks up for the worst month of the year:  August.

So, now is a really good time for you to put on your generous hat and donate food to your food pantry!  There are a couple of ways to do this.

You can clean out your kitchen shelves and give the food you know you are never going to use to a nearby food pantry.  That’s an easy, and tried-and-true way to donate food.  But, if you want to get creative, there are other ways to go about donating food to a food pantry.

Do you have a birthday or anniversary coming up?  Invite everyone you know to a party celebrating your birthday or anniversary and ask everyone to bring  food for a food pantry instead of a gift.

Have a food drive where you ask someone in a group you belong to for donations.  This can be pretty easy.  You can have a work food drive or a school food drive or a church group food drive.  It really doesn’t matter what the group is.  What matters is that you and a group of your co-workers get together and give food to a food pantry to feed hungry people.

When you are planning a food drive, don’t forget that pantries are in need of items of dignity.  Now might be a good time to hold an Item of Dignity drive.  People are always looking for toothbrushes, toilet paper, razors, tampons.