The real hunger

They are so hungry and this feels so meager.

They line up at the church’s side door, in a depressed city, where men congregate on the streets, waiting for anyone to drive by and offer them a day’s work. Many don’t even bother to look any more, they’re just hanging out. They know work isn’t out there.

The church has seen better days, yet it’s busy, with a day care center in the back, and locked doors heading to where I’m going – the food pantry. Once a month, women from my synagogue volunteer there. I just returned. My son, 12, went with me. And it’s impossible to work there, even for a few hours, and leave unchanged.

The worst part of this is the sinking reality that what we did, which is so little, makes a huge difference. This was only my second time, and I’m already planning next time, and how I can bring in more food.

Tuna, sardines, beef stew, beans, peanut butter, all forms of protein in a can are needed. Canned vegetables, fruit, soup, macaroni and cheese, cereal, and dessert, usually cookies, are also collected.

We unload grocery bags of donations, and stock them on the shelves, then pull from each category to make up a nutritionally balanced meal. No dietitian would love it, but it beats gnawing hunger.

Today was special, we had bread from a local bakery and until we ran out, each person also received fancy loaves, rolls and muffins.

My son, a skinny kid, who can put away astounding quantities of food, was put on bread duty, plastic gloves on hands, he concentrated on counting rolls and placing them in other bags. Then, he lugged flats of jelly, and sorted vegetables.

This was only shocking because I can’t recall the last time he volunteered around the house without asking for money. Today, I saw him change, and mature, and I was proud.

Yet what I mostly saw is how much change must be done, and how no pride could be involved. No one was turned away today, and that was great. But how the two grocery bags allotted for each person is going to sustain folks for two weeks is beyond me.

For those who may not have the time to work in a food pantry, they can donate to Feeding America.