Flooding in the Food Pantry
May 12, 2009
I rushed to our ministry site in rural Lowndes County after Sister Rosemary called to tell me there was flooding in the food pantry. As soon as I got there, I knew this was a problem that needed immediate action, even if I had to go into debt to do it.
Heavy spring rains had overwhelmed the small drainage area. Muddy water surrounded the building and dirty floodwater had washed into the pantry, covering the floor. Mold was already spreading on the wall, an unsafe environment for food storage. While I helped Sister Rosemary mop up the standing water, I placed a call to our maintenance man to see about getting repairs started. I didn’t want to lose a single day with our food pantry unusable. I knew too many families and elders depended on us.
I recalled Mr. Rupert Tucker, 84, and how happy he was to get his first food bag last month, after six months on the waiting list. Mr. Tucker’s wife has diabetes and their son is blind. Walking bent over with a cane, from a recent injury, Mr. Tucker thankfully accepted his bags of food. Over and over again, he said how grateful he was that he and his family would have good, healthy food to eat.
I remembered Ida Sommer, the sweet elderly aunt caring for several young nieces and nephews after school. The Mission food bags stretch her tight budget so that her little ones can always have something to eat – even if she has to go without.
Feeding the hungry poor is something I learned at home as a child. My father would set another place at the table for any hungry person who came to the door while we were eating. My sister Rita and my brothers, Bill and Jack, still laugh about the night my father insisted the papergirl have supper with us. All she wanted was to collect for the month’s paper bill but our father thought she looked a little thin.
Providing “another place at the table” is what we do when we feed hundreds of poor and hungry children, elders and families who depend on the food bags they get from our pantry each month in this out-of-the-way community.
Your gifts help us to stock the pantry with nutritious food – cans of beans, pineapple slices and tuna, along with bags of rice, grits, oatmeal, macaroni and cheese. You fill our freezers with meat, so vital to feed growing children.
I could never feed the hundreds of hungry poor without your help.
I was nervous waiting to hear back from the maintenance man about the cost of the repairs because the troubled economy has hit all of us hard. But I knew that it was critical to keep the pantry open. You can’t do that when flood water pours into the building. The good news is that we moved quickly enough to save the food stocked on shelves and in our freezer.
I was pleased when a couple from the community came to help us clean up. Even though they both have suffered job cutbacks this year and are raising a handicapped child, they give generously of their time for others. They both said the Missions’ work means so much to so many people, they want to do what they can to make sure it continues.
I hope you too will do what you can to keep our feeding ministry going. The total cost of the repairs and flood control measures came to $8,420. What a shock! I know that’s a great deal of money but I’m hoping you can help me pay this bill. It costs $38 to fill one bag with nutritious vegetables, fruit and meat. The poor are desperate for help in feeding their children. Just like my father, I can’t let people go hungry. Please remember his lesson of providing “another place at the table,” especially for children in need.
Many of our older donors make regular sacrificial gifts to feed the poor. I grew up in a family that did the same thing. The Sisters at my childhood Catholic grammar school often asked us to sacrifice our allowances to rescue orphan babies. Sacrificial giving to those in need was a lesson I never forgot.
That extra plate at our table at home has become my inspiration. I think of it when I fill bags at our food pantry and meet people like Mr. Tucker, who so depend on the generosity of others, especially in this time of economic hardship.
You are in my daily prayers as I thank God for the blessing of your friendship and support. I am counting on you to feed “the least of these.”
His peace,
Rev. Richard Myhalyk, S.S.E.
