The Big Picture
Lord,
As I work in the pantry week after week, I encounter problems.
There is not enough food, not enough space for the food we have, and not enough time to feed the hungry.
There are too many hungry shoppers, too many cars in the parking lot, too many cases of fresh fruits and vegetables, and too many cardboard boxes.
And, as I listen to the car radio when I drive back and forth to Latham on Fridays, I’m aware that I, like those around me, am concerned with problems and challenges in my own small, personal universe.
You, Lord, see the big picture. You see everyone’s problems and issues. You take everyone’s world and make it all work somehow. What we have, as humans, is a stew. You have us all together in this universal stewpot. In the Army, Lord, there’s a name for it: Mongolian Stew
You are beyond all of us in scope and size. Somehow, you stoop down and get in the stewpot with all of us and get involved in our details as You take on our problems.
Through your vision and wisdom, You see the needs of everyone and You send us love, kindness, and miracles. You take the troubles off our shoulders.
Help me Lord, surrender to Your kindness, love, wisdom.
Help me just give the pantry over to you 100%. Help me turn the problems of the building, the hungry, the volunteers, the church, the community, over to you. You do the perfect job of problem solving. After all, you are the God to whom we all pray.
How can I do anything less? When I do this, Lord, I’ll walk in love, with a strong heart, and a solid faith. I’ll receive a spiritual awakening. This will bring glory to you.
Amen
The manuscript for the memoir will go to the publisher on Tuesday, January 9th! I’m ecstatic! I’m excited!
Thank you for reading this blog post. Please share it with your preferred social media network.
Thank you
Thurman Greco
But are they hungry? – Happy Holidays
“How dare you feed this kind of food to these people? If they’re hungry enough they’ll eat anything.”
“That woman has a car and her son has a job. She shouldn’t get pantry food.”
“How dare you serve this much food to those kinds of people?”
The “are they hungry” issue looms large in food pantry conflicts. The fears are many and boil down to this:
1. Financially comfortable people will shop at a pantry when they actually have the money to go to a supermarket.
2. Riffraff are going to take the pantry food and sell it.
3. Many people shopping at a pantry wouldn’t need to come to a pantry if they managed their money better.
Very few people are comfortable with the concept that pantry volunteers give the food away…no strings attached. An unspoken concept here is that the hungry, the struggling class, individually and as a group should be punished for being the downtrodden.
Sometimes when I try to sort the whole thing out in my head, I’m reminded of the chicken yard my grandmother had during World War II. Occasionally, a chicken would be ill and the other chickens would begin to peck at it. If the chicken didn’t get well, it would be pecked to death.
For me, this is simply not an issue. I welcome all shoppers. They don’t have to be destitute although I did see many hungry people in a pantry. Pantry shoppers everywhere routinely endure
long lines
uncomfortable waiting conditions
lack of choice.
The lines in a pantry can routinely be longer than an hour. The hungry wait in line whether it’s raining, snowing, or if there are broiling summer temperatures. Outside pantry buildings, there is little or no protection from the elements.
The hungry wait in these lines to have access to about 30 different food products. Compare that number to a trip to your local super market with it’s 10,000 or more items to choose from.
And, finally, if I ever could take the attitude that hungry people must have done something wrong and don’t deserve that kind of food, I remember the time I foolishly asked a child in line in the basement of the Woodstock Reformed Church about Christmas.
Santa doesn’t come to families that stand in the pantry line.
Thanks for reading this blog/book.
The story is true. The people are real.
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