DO UNTO OTHERS..

I received the following from a dear friend, Carin Horn, PhD:

Good morning, Marilyn,

"I just finished reading your latest blog and wanted to share some of my most challenging opportunities to not be judgmental and still serve the greater good.  I have been a volunteer board member and food buyer at the Denton Community Food Center for 4 years.  We serve about 200 families a week by providing emergency food 4-5 times a year and no more than twice in a calendar month.  Some of the folks that know where I volunteer have commented about the people that "take advantage of the system. You know. The ones that work it."

We really never know one another's story:

- A woman pulls up in a high dollar Mercedes needing food; she was living in her car.

- A disabled veteran is living on the streets and has no refrigeration or way to heat/cook food.

- The young widow of a veteran killed in Iraq needs food for her very young children.

- A multigenerational family can't feed everyone because the grandparents are living on social security but their adult child and family moved in after a job-related injury and subsequent loss of employment.  This happens frequently.

- A single mother with four children is pregnant and unemployed.  I think that she had been raped.

- A young man has no transportation, is living in a tent in some woods around Denton and cooking on an open fire -- not enough money to buy ice for the cooler he has.

- A man smelling like death had just been released from the hospital and has nothing to eat.  He was still wearing his hospital ID band.

I could go on and on....  The opportunity to accept and help others as they are may be our greatest challenge as brothers and sisters of the human race."

Love,

Carin

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2013 statistics show that one out of five children or 16 million children in America struggle with hunger on a daily basis. Your generous donations to your local food banks are needed to ensure these children and their parents get enough to eat. Contact organizations such as No Kid Hungry or a food bank in your area - Feeding America (for a list of food banks across the nation) to see how you can help. 

Sadly, many of our vets and their families also need food. One organization you can contact is Food for Veterans.

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After posting Carin's original email, I had a few questions, which she answered:

"“...the Food Center has been an all-volunteer community charity for 38 years.  No one has ever been paid to work there!  Our oldest volunteer is 94; the youngest without adult supervision are 16.  That being said, most of the grandchildren and great-grandchildren of our volunteers have helped from time to time, including Chloe, Kaitlyn, and Coleson! (These are Carin’s own grandchildren.)

We have wonderful community support with funding and/or food coming from private individuals, co-op gardens/farms, group donations of purchased food, the Denton Benefit League, CoServ utilities, both universities, local grocery stores, academic intern programs, Empty Bowls of Denton, memorial funds, numerous churches, neighborhoods, and school food drives among many others.  We do not receive any direct government funding but we are able to purchase USDA commodities at substantial savings through the Tarrant Area Food Bank (TAFB) in Ft. Worth. Because of that association, we are required to participate in civil rights training annually.

Some of our volunteers are accumulating community service hours at the recommendation of the courts -- essentially a fine-of-time for everything from running a stop sign to being caught having more fun than the law allows!  It is surprising how many community service workers become long-term volunteers after they have met their mandated obligations.  Helping others is very addictive behavior....

This morning I placed an order with TAFB for 5,115 pounds of food (frozen, fresh, and dry or canned) that will be gone before the end of next week.  We typically give out at least a ton of food a day, five days a week from 1:00 to 3:00 throughout the year.  BTW we do not require proof of citizenship -- a hungry child is a hungry child.

Love back to you and, Marilyn, keep speaking your mind.  You give us opportunities to reflect upon what really matters."  C

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Pointing out the sometimes miserable and negative aspects of our society may seem contrary to what I have described as my "Pollyanna" personality. Really, though, it's not. There is a positive angle to what I write about. I do not present these things as a condemnation (although it sounds like it when I talk politics!), but rather a beautiful opportunity for each of us to contribute lovingly to those less fortunate. A Christian, "golden-rule" type response to needs of so many. Unless we shine a light on those needs, how can we know what to fix? And much in our world today needs fixing. In doing so, I wish to pay tribute to those known and unknown angels who go about doing this work so unselfishly. Not only are they feeding the hungry of body, but they give much love to the soul.

I think Gandhi would approve of them.

Peace, love, and food for your soul,

Marilyn