I’ve never gone hungry. I'm lucky.
Over the years, working on stories about people who are hungry and the people who seek to help feed those who are hungry has given me a little insight into understanding what it means to be in need.
There are people who are hungry. And they are our neighbors sometimes. It may or may not have been bad choices that got them into this position, but hunger is way more complicated than that. Luckily there are many who wear their hearts on their sleeve and work to help those folks all year round.
This past week, I had a few chances to see this giving in action.
She is confident they are fulfilling the community's needs but admitted they get new clients each month. She says local organizations are generous and they take what comes in and immediately get it where it needs to go. "If the money comes in, we buy (food.) Whatever comes in goes right back out."
The food bank is sandwiched between two second-hand stores. One sells everything for a few coins, while the other has a few higher-marked items. The money helps keeps the doors open at the 100% volunteer-run organization.
They are associated with Second Harvest Food Bank and recently had a food drive. They pass out food three times a week and work with clients in need all the time. Wencil-Tracey said they accept donations and are always looking for personal hygiene items. She also said monetary donations are always accepted and put toward the directed needs of the community.
Over the years I've covered holiday meals and watched the faces of volunteers, many of whom have been on the receiving end of the kindness at some point in their life, and watched the connections between them. It is in this exchange, if we could bottle it and send to Washington, that we truly see the meaning of humanity.