Our
situation is very dicey right now. Even the small amounts of Etsy income I can
generate doesn't help enough. Therefore I visit a few different "food
pantries" in our area. I am careful to never do this when I do not need
it. As soon as finances take an upturn, I stop going, so that others may move
up the list.
Food
pantries are not grocery stores. For those who have been blessed by never
having had to use them, here is a fact or two. Primarily, you get whatever they
get. Often they received their stock from the Three Square organization.
Sometimes it is from food drives they sponsor. Other times they partner with a market or two
to pick up their day-old and expiring products. When you are in need, products
that have expired are not something to worry about. Most times, non-perishables
are still fine a few months after the date. A year after the date, well, that's
a different matter.
Anyhow, the
thing to remember is that you get what they give you. Humans being human, we
all have our preferences. Even when we are in dire need, it is often hard to
make ourselves eat something we really do not like.
In our
senior mobile home community, there are a dozen or two folks who visit these
places. I also have two friends I've met on Freecycle who are in the same
food-pantry boat. We sort of trade and swap items we don't like with each
other, and we often get things we do like.
So, it goes
like this. One of us ends up with extra bags of dry milk and elbow macaroni,
and the husband doesn't like canned peas. They drop that stuff off to me and I
give them some things I have plenty of right now and which I know they
like. We pass things along to each
other. The things that we all have too much of, we leave on tables in our
Clubhouse or in our Mailroom, for others in here to enjoy and use.
I even have
two friends outside of the park who gain from this. One is a single mom raising
a teen daughter, and another has a disabled young adult daughter.
What amazes
me is that the folks who pass things to me could easily just throw it away.
Nobody would know. But instead they share it with others.
I just love
this and I love the big hearts of my financially-challenged friends.
Lord Jesus, thank you for all the wonderful and generous folks you have placed on my life's path. Bless them abundantly, please, and keep them in your heart always.
2 comments:
Yes...I have noticed the same thing~ Mother Teresa use to talk aobut this. She told a story of taking 20+ pounds of rice to a family of 8. As soon as they thanked Mother Teresa, the mother divided it in half and gave the other half to the family next door who happened to also be a family of 8. It humbled MT to see such generosity! ♥♥♥
What a wonderful story, Cathy - thank you for sharing it - I love that one and will always remember it when cynical people tell me there are no good people in this world - there are those of us who know better!
Hugs and prayers
Evie
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