Feed the People

As long-time Verbatim readers know, the "cause" that is nearest and dearest to my heart is wiping out hunger. I lose sleep thinking about people who don't know where their next meal is coming from. When my kids tell me how hungry they are at a moment when I happen to be feeling all preachy-like, I'm liable to launch into one of my "We don't know what hunger is. You haven't eaten in a few hours, since your last snack. What if you hadn't eaten all day?" rants.

As often as I can, I get involved with groups whose mission is to feed the hungry in my community. (Yes, I do occasionally give to outside organizations, but you must also know that I'm mostly a "Think globally, act locally" kind of gal.) We make bag lunches for the homeless shelter, we donate canned and boxed goods to our local food pantry, I go with Pete to serve dinner at the soup kitchen (and am trying to find a date when our family and perhaps another family or two can do the whole thing ourselves!), and so on.

Another opportunity came up this Sunday, when our temple asked for volunteers to help pack up and deliver groceries to the needy on behalf of JF&CS, a local organization that does wonderful things for those in need in the surrounding communities:

For almost 150 years, Jewish Family & Children’s Service (JF&CS) has been Greater Boston’s leading and trusted provider of comprehensive human services. JF&CS helps people of all faiths, races, and ages with the challenges of life. A caring presence in the 80 communities we serve, we’re proud to be the place that new mothers, young families, people with disabilities, fragile elders, and the chronically poor can turn to for vital and personalized services.

What an operation! We and dozens of other families from temples all around were given lists prepared by families in need. We entered a large room that was divided up into tables full of cereal, pasta, canned beans, soup, and so on. All the items had been donated—for instance, our temple's "assignment" for the year is canned tuna and boxed cereal (I drop off full bags as often as I remember, which is probably not enough, considering how often I'm at the market). We had to gather all the items on each list, which is where the kids came in. "Go get me a jar of peanut butter and two cans of fruit!" One family required kosher food, so we had to carefully check the labels of each item before we bagged them. At the end, we went into a separate room to get whatever refrigerated items were available—this time there was cream cheese, eggs, and frozen spinach and broccoli.

Then we took the Google map directions attached to our lists and drove to deliver the bags to the families. They were so grateful, and it was all I could do not to cry in front of them.

When Pete does the soup kitchen, he first meets with the other kids in the group and the group leader to talk about poverty. He's learned that not everyone who visits the soup kitchen is necessarily homeless. Some have homes and even jobs, but they still don't have quite enough to make ends meet without these extra hot meals. Or everything was fine until they lost their job or they had a big medical bill or their car died or their rent went up or whatever. It's been really eye-opening for him to learn that there are people within our own community who are in dire need.

I'm eagerly awaiting another opportunity to pack and deliver food for JF&CS; in the meantime, I'm going to make a point to buy more tuna and cereal, I've offered to drive all that tuna and cereal from the temple to JF&CS each month, and I'm going to volunteer directly to JF&CS to pack groceries for those families who are able to come pick them up themselves.

Is it so much to dream that everyone in my community can go to bed with a full stomach? I don't like to think about the amount of food my family throws away for various reasons; I'm determined to work harder to make the most of what we have and to set aside more for others in need.

Comments

[Elena]

You are an inspiration!

[Katy]

This is fantastic, Karen! We are also committed to hunger relief in our family and support Waltham Community Farms, which raises organic produce for local pantries (along with a traditional CSA). We also have developed a great relationship with our local food pantry. I once asked the director what things they needed the most that people never seemed to donate, and she answered "larger diapers" without skipping a beat. It seems people always donate infant and newborn diapers, but bigger babies and toddlers need them just as much and because toddler diapers are more expensive...you get the picture. So I actually stopped bringing food and now I just save up to buy cases of size 5,6, and pull-up diapers. They literally jump up and down when I drop them off. It's a fantastic feeling.

[Hippiecoolchick.wordpress.com]

Great post, Karen! And thanks to Katy for the perspective on diapers; never thought about it.

[Marta]

That's wonderful.. such a good feeling. The next four weeks my church is collecting flour, salt and other non-perishables in order to pack them into containers and send off to third world countries. Last year the group (city wide) collected enough for 372 containers to be shipped abroad.

I like your thoughts of doing something locally. I shall have to look into it around here as well.

[Steve]

Thanks for the reminder. I've dropped things in the Atlanta Food Bank collection bins, but they are only in my office seasonally. I certainly don't go out of my way.

Plus Cliff and I waste A LOT of food. We buy rotisserie chickens and only eat the breast, and we toss probably a third of all the fruit we buy because it goes bad.

It's disgusting how clueless we are.

I am going to follow your lead and make more of an effort.

Thanks.

[Sarah]

This is sort of random, but I saw your post and then today Mir (not sure if you're familiar with her) linked to this: http://wantnot.net/2011/02/17/this-ones-a-little-fishy/

[margalit]

As a long time Family Table recipient, my kids and I thank you. Without Family Table my kids would be hungry a lot more than they are normally. The food usually lasts about a week, but it allows me to not spend money on staples like pasta and rice. It really does help. So thanks for your efforts.