Food Pantry

Every Wednesday morning we clean up after "breakfast conversations" and music practice and we set up tables to get ready for the food pantry. This week we went gleening for oranges, tangelos and lemons, plus we gad all the grapefruit that I picked from the day before. A truck from the Kauai Food Bank comes at 11:30, and anyone from the church or from wherever can jump in and help unload the truck and set out the food on the tables. People who show up early to help set up can take a box of food with them after setting up, so they don't have to wait until the program actually starts and they can get the good stuff. Anybody can get food here. You don't have to prove that you are starving or are unable to get a job. It's just a time where those who need food can come and get some. This week we needed a little food, so we got some too.

Our first Wednesday at food pantry we just observed and helped out wherever we could; restocking tables and handing out more boxes and bags to people. A couple of days later Hope had this idea, which she thought of as a vision, to bring people together more; opening up a way for people to be creative if they don't have resources or encouragement to do that elsewhere. She wanted to open up conversation more and have a way for people to get to know and enjoy each other better. The message at church the first Sunday we were here was about us all being parts of one body; discovering and sharing our gifts with each other. That first week at food pantry we, at least I, felt disconnected from the people who came for food, and Hope's idea was a good way of tearing down that wall. I layed down and she traced around my body on a big peice of canvas that used to be wall paper in a condo. She set the fabric out on a table before food pantry and set up art supplies for people to contribute to a collage called "one humanity". Everybody had a chance to add something to this outline of a body; to make it feel like we are all in this together. It was pretty cool. A lot of kids helped out and a few adults really liked it too. The end result, unless we add to it next week, really did look to me like a combination of all of the people there. A mixture of artsy style, ruggedness, nature, scrapes and bruises, spiky hair, tattoos, homemade jewelry, and animals. A lot of people just painted their own pictures on pieces of paper too, and I thought that was really cool. I found one lying on the ground after word that just said a person's name. I wondered if that person didn't know what else to paint or write other then their own name. Maybe that was a really creative and meaningful thing to paint. I wish that I could feel proud and creative if I just painted my name on a piece of paper. I heard some people say "when did they get all of this stuff here? (referring to the painting and ping pong games)" to which two girls replied "since it got cool", and the guy said "I was here two weeks ago and they didn't have anything cool like this. Another guy told Hope that usually they just sit around and stare at each other. Since then a lot of people have said how cool it was that we incorporated more of a creative, social and fun aspect to the food pantry. I think Hope had a great and successful idea.

We gave out food for about 200 people this week. It was a lot of fun meeting new people and hanging out together in this setting. There was a lady with two kids weaving baskets and she sold a couple of them to me. I can show you a picture of them later. There were a lot of kids this week, and then were running around like crazy. We almost had all of our ping pong balls and paddles destroyed and one boy lost his sandal; that's what happens when you have too much fun I guess.

The prayer circle at the beginning is my favorite part. John, the food pantry director, gives some ground rules with his usual tone of constant sarcastic humor; letting everyone know that there basically are no rules as long as everyone gets some food. Pastor Glenn gives thanks for everyone who is there, prayer for everyone and tells them to let him know if there is anyone else who needs food who cannot make it to the food pantry. We hold hands and prayer and listen to Glenn and John for a few minutes, and then everyone gets a number and lines up to get some of their food for the week. This week we also had a drawing for 4 frozen turkeys and 6 Micheal Jackson calendars; those things are going like hot cakes.

W're almost finished with week 2 of this amazing journey. We're sort of getting into a groove here and the time is starting to fly by like it didn't the first week. We wake up and are busy most of they day and before we know it it is bedtime again. Last night we made a calendar because we want to make sure we take time to do some important personal things that we set as goals when we came here; reading, writing, running etc. It's hard to do all that you want in a day, and when we have a chance it's nice to just rest too; because that is a big reason why we came here in the first place. But isn't rest just taking a break from your typical daily work? Most of this feels like rest to me. I'm content.

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