Route 28 Archives - Hunger Is Not a DiseaseHunger Is Not a Disease |

I Have a Question

April 28, 2015 at 5:29 am

“When I drive down Route 28 on Monday, I see a lot of cars at your pantry. I see many people. I have some food pantry questions. Are they from our area?”
My answer: “Yes, they are from our area.”
But, that’s not the right question and it’s certainly not the right answer. The correct answer is that we serve everyone who manages to make it to our pantry…no matter where they’re from.
In our country now, in the U. S. of A., we have people who are hungry. Many of these people work. Many hold down 2-3 minimum wage jobs. Even with these jobs, their minimum wage pay checks don’t have any $$$ for food. So, they come to a pantry for food.
They come to the pantry they can get to…not the one in their neighborhood. And, the reason for that makes a lot of sense. If they live off Route 28 but work in Cairo on Monday, they’ll never make it to the Boiceville pantry on Monday before it closes.
When I worked in the Good Neighbor Food Pantry in Woodstock, there was a volunteer who didn’t agree with this philosophy. A hungry man from Shandaken got a ride into Woodstock and stood in line for food.
The volunteer denied him food. He went away hungry. He came to Woodstock for food because he didn’t have a car and his ride brought him to Woodstock.
Pantries serve the people who can make it to their pantry. At Reservoir Food Pantry we also serve food to home bound households where the residents are transportation challenged.
It’s not where the hungry live that determines what pantry they use. It’s what pantry they can get to.
Food pantries and soup kitchens are our tax dollars at work. The government has decided the hungry should not starve to death. The government has chosen food pantries, soup kitchens, shelters, and halfway houses as places for the hungry to get food.
We don’t ask the address of any of the hungry in our line. Nor do we care.
Our job is plain and simple: to feed the hungry.
For the most part, the food that we serve is food that was destined for the landfill. Most pantry volunteers are just that…unpaid workers concerned about our neighbors, relatives, friends who are not getting enough to eat.
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Are you working but having a hard time making ends meet? Check your eligibility for a range of benefits and apply for food assistance at:
myBenefits.ny.gov

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Peace and food for all.
Thurman Greco

An Open Letter to Konrad Ryushin Marchaj

February 26, 2015 at 8:02 am

It seems only yesterday that we sent you an appeal for support. We were a band of 4 people who barely knew each other, embarked on an adventure. None of us mentioned it, not even to each other…but you were our only hope.

We were processing a 501c3 to open the Reservoir Food Pantry. And, until it came through, we needed a sponsor willing to share theirs. So, you got the letter, and invited us to lunch at Zen Mountain Monastery so we could meet and make our appeal.

We begged, really, but you never let on. We went away that afternoon energized by your openness, professionalism, interest, concern. Eventually you did what you did and we received the support from your group.

You gave us a raft on which we floated until we got our own 501c3 and gained acceptance with the Food Bank.

So, today, as a result of your efforts, there is now a pantry on Route 28 in the Ashokan Reservoir area of Ulster County in Upstate New York serving over 125 households every Monday afternoon. The volunteers at this pantry look forward to serving the hungry for many years to come.

In conclusion: Thank you Konrad Ryushin Marchaj for all you have done for yourself and your fellow man. I saw you change the world around you for the better. That counts for a lot in my book.

I wish you well on your continued journey of spiritual growth. I am proud to have been touched by you. On behalf of all the hungry people we feed each week, I offer gratitude. It has been an honor and a pleasure.

I cannot thank you enough for your trust, your support, and your confidence in our humble venture.

Peace and food for all.

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Thurman Greco

This Winter in the Pantry

January 27, 2015 at 10:17 am

January, 2015, is turning out to be such a marvelous time in the pantry! I just couldn’t let it go by without thanking you for all the support and contributions you made as we began our project.

On September 9, 2013, as we began work to make the Reservoir Food Pantry a reality, none of us (Bonnie, Sean, Prasida, and I) had a clue about the real needs of people in the area. Working in the pantry this month I’m coming to realize existentially what is really happening there.

Take our monthly delivery day for example. January 12th was dismal. Nobody in his/her right mind would venture out of either house or home if it weren’t absolutely necessary. Both volunteers and shoppers who could get out of their homes proved how valuable this little pantry in a shed has become.

Volunteers who could get out of their houses drove on icy roads to Kingston to pick up our monthly food shipment. We loaded the food onto 4 vehicles, drove it to the pantry, unloaded it and shelved it.

Meanwhile, Prasida and Francine drove to Latham and returned with 1300 pounds of beautiful produce.

All this work was done during an icy rain, in unheated buildings, and on snow covered ground.

That was one level of motivation. And, why not? After all, we’re the volunteers…that’s what we’re expected to do.

Shoppers came to the pantry as if the sun were out, the grounds were dry, and the breezes warm. They stood in line outside the pantry and patiently, cheerfully waited for their turn to shop in the tiny little shed to get badly needed food for their households/families.

Oh me of little faith. Shame on me. Until delivery day I really didn’t know how the people in the reservoir area really felt about our pantry.

Well…as people tell me all the time “Now I know”.

I walk more confidently now.

Hunger as we know it in our country is both infuriating and shameful. To fight this scourge…

We need schools that work.

We need communities that work.

We need support systems which offer people caught in poverty a fair chance to succeed.

Although safety nets in our society are almost gone, food pantries are flourishing in communities all over America. Food pantries cannot fight poverty. They can only alleviate hunger…a vitally important task in our community.

We looked everywhere along Route 28 for a home for the Reservoir Food Pantry. We finally created a jewel behind Robert’s Auction.

So, to everyone in the area…thank you. With your support, the Reservoir Food Pantry is a success today. We could never have done it without you.

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Peace and food for all.

Thurman Greco

An Open Letter to the Members of the Olive Town Board

October 6, 2014 at 7:38 am

We had a wonderful day in the pantry last Monday:

Beautiful weather,

Gorgeous produce,

Generous canned goods from the Food Bank on brand new shelves in our shed just down the hill from the Wastewater Treatment Plant.

WE BEGAN OUR JOURNEY UP THE HILL IN THE PARKING LOT OF THE WASTEWATER TREATMENT PLANT. You’ll never know how much it meant to us to be in the parking lot up the hill. We spent months looking at every available empty space along 28. We went over to Olivebridge even, looking to see what was over there.

Several places would have made gorgeous pantries…except for the rent. We just didn’t have what it takes (and still don’t have), to pay the rent.

I was about to give up and just realize that we were destined to be a take-out pantry forever…until you came up with the Wastewater Treatment Plant.

SO, WE WENT FOR IT. We set up tables under canopies in the parking lot. We moved a bit closer to Route 28 each week because of the wind on the hill. By the time Beecher Smith agreed to share his space with us, we were almost to the road.

BUT FOR YOUR GENEROSITY, WE WOULD HAVE NEVER GOTTEN A SPACE. We’re eternally grateful. We’re feeding people; serving more seniors than the adults and children combined. Half of the households we feed are home bound.

We are definitely tax dollars at work. And, we don’t waste even one penny.

WHEN WE FEED PEOPLE IN THE RESERVOIR FOOD PANTRY AREA, WE STRENGTHEN THE ENTIRE COMMUNITY AS WE ASSIST THE MOST VULNERABLE.

Thank you for the opportunity.

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Peace and food for all.

Thurman Greco

Click here to purchase
A HEALER’S HANDBOOK BY THURMAN GRECO

In “A Healer’s Handbook”, Thurman shares experiences and observations based on years of practice. She focuses on the spirituality of the different body systems, both physical and energetic.

This book offers extensive information on condition and illnesses encountered by healing practitioners. The spiritual connection is explained in every health issue because they reveal a person’s deeper layers, essential for healing.

Healing protocols, helpful lifestyle changes, and affected chakras build on one another.

With information found in this book, you will offer healing to the whole person.

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Click here to purchase
I Don’t Hang Out In Churches Anymore

Thurman Greco’s “I Don’t Hang Out in Churches Anymore” will touch your heart as she relates both the joys and hardships of contemporary American life as seen through the eyes of a small town food pantry. This is the story of how one woman in America found God.

In truthful, upbeat, intimate language, these prayers relate events and stories that may sound familiar to you. They are the stories of your neighbors. These experiences reveal joy, love, laughter, pain, surprise.

Do you believe in miracles? There are stories in these prayers that can be interpreted no other way.

The prayers in this book will empower you to pray for yourself as well as others. When this happens, you will discover just how import prayer for others is, as did author Thurman Greco. You will learn more about yourself and your connection to your community. In this process, you will learn more about God.

Click here to purchase Miracles

Miracles, like beauty, exist entirely in the eyes of beholders. Naturally occurring events, they happen all around us like the wind, rain, and sun outside the pantry room. We only need to see them for what they are. They happen when we open our eyes, ears, and hearts to the possibility that they exist at all.

Pantry miracles never change much. Except, they do. They change how we see the pantry and how we belong in it. These humble events change our inner lives. We become responsible for ways to overcome the hunger and homelessness we face.

Pantry miracles remind us it’s never too late to know ourselves and understand the talents we were born to use in our lives.

Click here to purchase Ketchup Sandwich Chronicles

Ketchup Sandwich Chronicles tells the story of everyone brought together by the pantry: Hungry people kept moving in a line around the room. At times there wasn’t enough space between the people to even turn around. They got to know each other in sound bites shared between grabbing a can of green beans or a package of strawberries. A sentence here. A sentence there. The children were eerily silent, clutching their mother’s pants leg.

The struggle of each person who came in the door could be felt.

When you read this book, you’ll become intimately involved with rules surrounding the feeding of the hungry, the economy of hunger, the biases of people about pantries, and the taboos of hunger. You’ll get up close and personal with the politics of hunger.

Thanks for sharing this journey with me. Peace & food for all.

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Wherever you go, if you’re healing yourself or caring for someone else, you are on a journey. This book is a ticket to your healing adventures.
“Wellness for All” adds a spiritual layer of personal care to every situation in your healing life.
This book enlightens and empowers you with information and insight you can use. The focus is on your health, healing, and wellness. This book gives you a boost to care for yourself and those important to you. “Wellness for All” explores:

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I live in Woodstock, New York. My life – all 70+ years of it – has been a journey down a path toward a food pantry serving thousands of hungry people monthly. I feel this because, in this pantry, I’ve been using every life skill

Learned in a part of Texas that looked like it came right out of the movie set of “The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly” where I spent much of my childhood

Learned in being a mother as I raised two daughters

Learned in getting acquainted with hunger in Mexico and Venezuela

Learned in becoming fluent in a second language, Spanish

Learned in becoming a healer

Learned in becoming a writer

Learned in running a successful business.

But, I didn’t learn all the skills necessary to run a pantry. In the pantry I got up close and personal with the politics of hunger.

As the coordinator of the Good Neighbor Food Pantry during the time that the economy tanked in 2008 and beyond, I, along with many volunteers, served groceries to people as the weekly shopper census rose from 25 people weekly to 500 people weekly. This chronicle explores those events. In order to do justice to this saga, I learned facts, figures, issues, motivations, outlooks.

Melissa Petro recently said it all: “Thurman, you have the cred.”

Thank you for joining me on this journey.
Peace and food for all.

Thurman Greco

“The most important and generous thing any of us has to give as a writer is our own voice, how we experience our lives.” – Hal Zina Bennett

Donate to feed the hungry

Whenever possible/practical I reviewed the conversations with people who could help reconstruct events, chronology, and dialogue. Based on these reviews, some of the incidents as well as certain events were compressed, consolidated or reordered to accommodate memories of everyone consulted. All dialogue is as accurate as possible to actual conversations that took place, to the best of my memory. The names of some of the characters (mainly the shoppers) were changed. The names of some of the characters were omitted.

This memoir was edited and rearranged over many drafts in an effort to be as accurate as possible. If you read a sentence, page, paragraph or even an entire blog post that you feel is outrageous or untrue, it is nonetheless very real. Everything written in this book/blog actually happened. It’s my story.

Thanks for sharing this journey with me.

Peace and food for all
Thurman Greco

This book/blog is dedicated not only to the shoppers at the Good Neighbor Food Pantry in Woodstock, NY, but to the people who shop at food pantries all over the country. You are good, decent people working hard to survive against all odds. To me, you are the face of God.

This book is also dedicated to all the volunteers: those from the congregations, as well as the community. Without you, I would never have had a story to tell. Thank you. I haven’t had so much fun in 40 years.

“We all need to create the story that will make sense of our lives,
to make sense of the daily wasks.” – Nick Flynn

Peace and food for all.
Thurman Greco

“Some of the most important relationships we chart, from which our spirits profit the most, are those to which we have the strength to say no.”
-Sylvia Brown

Many people helped write this memoir. The real creators of this book are the wonderful people who shopped at the Good Neighbor Food Pantry week after week after week. These individuals and families offered us all an opportunity to heal and grow. Without you, none of us would have even had a reason to be in the building.

The majority of the events described in this memoir took place in the basement of the Woodstock Reformed Church where the pantry room, the storeroom, and the hallway are located. Thank you, members of the Woodstock Reformed Church, for your generous donation of this space for feeding the hungry.

I’m grateful to everyone at the Food Bank of Northeastern New York and the Food Bank of the Hudson Valley for the support and training they offered as I traveled down this incredible path.

The Hunger Prevention Nutrition Assistance Program offered needed guidelines to ensure that people did, indeed, receive the food they needed to live and function in this culture. Thank you for your mandate of a minimum 3-day supply of food for each and every person. Thank you for insisting that pantries offer client choice. Thank you for having policies insisting on fresh produce and frozen foods. Thank you for your commitment to nutritious foods.

I extend my most heartfelt gratitude to everyone in the Woodstock Interfaith Council and the members of the Building Committee of the Woodstock Reformed Church for giving me the strength to continue feeding the hungry at the pantry until I knew in my soul that the pantry was going to be around “for good.”

And, I offer a sincere “thank you” to the residents of Woodstock and elsewhere who showed your support of the mission by sending checks, giving fundraisers, offering verbal support, and donating money to the Sunflower Natural Foods Market every month to honor the pantry. Whenever times were tough, your generosity and support reminded me that feeding the hungry is, indeed, the right thing to do.

Thank you Richard Spool, Rich Allen, and Guy Oddo for putting Miriam’s Well together. Thank you to Prasida Kay for making all those trips in Miriam’s Well. Those were wonderful, beautiful, delicious days that I’ll never forget.
All of our pantry volunteers, over the years, offered me much spiritual growth. A special thanks goes out to each and every one of you. All of you gave 110%.

Thanks goes to Barry, who stuck by me with very few complaints.

He went to the dump weekly in addition to the trips made in Vanessa by myself and the other volunteers.
He went to Hurley Ridge Market for produce every Tuesday morning and brought six to ten boxes of beautiful produce, bread, and pastries to the pantry.

He helped stock shelves when the Anderson crew was unavailable. He drove me to Latham weekly for many months on Fridays and helped load the 1000 or so pounds of canned/boxed goods which I ordered on the Wednesday before.
He occasionally participated in the monthly food caravan, helping to bring the food over from Kingston.
He made sure Vanessa always had gas, regular oil changes, inspections, needed repairs, etc. He never once complained about these maintenance costs.

He was a strong fan of my efforts. However, his support was definitely not 100%. At one point he told me that my job was impossible. “Not even a Marine Drill Sergeant would take on the job of coordinator at the Good Neighbor Food Pantry.” He said once with feeling.

He finally put an offer on the table: The day I walked off the job, he would finance a 90-day trip, wherever I wanted to go.

“Take the Prius and go. Go see the kids. Go to Florida. Go anywhere you want. Anywhere. Ditch the phone so they can’t call you.”

I chose this book instead. What a wonderful gift!

He was also strongly against a public meeting with the pantry denigrators. He felt I shouldn’t participate in the planned spectacle. Once he extracted a promise from me that I wouldn’t meet with them, he prepared a special treat for me of homemade cream puffs. (My favorite – totally made from scratch.) They were delicious!

I took some of them to a board meeting and offered them to all the board members. They devoured every one.

Life does have its little humorous moments. Right?