Every couple of weeks, the entry space of our little church fills up with boxes and boxes of bread...different brands...different flavors...hamburger buns, rolls, bagels, pastries. For a visitor walking in it must be rather perplexing.
The bread takes quite a journey before it arrives at our door. This bread is donated by various grocery stores in our community to the Illinois Food Bank. The Food Bank in turn distributes the bread to a large number of Food Pantries throughout the state. The bread that we receive comes to us from the Green Harvest Food Pantry in Plainfield, Illinois. www.greenharvest.org
Once the clients at Green Harvest have done their shopping...there is always bread still left on the shelves. And...very quickly...Green Harvest receives another shipment of bread from the Illinois Food Bank.
We all know that bread doesn't stay fresh for very long. The Food Bank knows this...and instead of throwing out the leftover breads, they push it onto the local Food Pantries. So now, the Food Pantries are responsible for distributing...or disposing...of the bread.
Our church, for a few months now, has been taking this abundance of leftover breads and doing our part in the distribution chain. About every two weeks Partners and Friends in our congregation are invited to take bread home or to share it with friends, neighbors, local organizations or complete strangers.
There have been some phenomenal stories that come back in regard to the continued journey this bread makes...and I'd like to share one with you.
Each time we receive a shipment of bread, I put a post on Facebook to let folks in the community know that it is available. This past Friday, I had conversation with one of the women in my morning bootcamp class about the bread (yes, I've begun my fitness program again...oh, the pain). She had seen the Facebook post the previous day after the office had already closed. So, I invited her...actually I invited the entire class to come next door to the church and take some bread home.
While picking up bread for her family this woman began to tell me about another family that she knows and the apparent hardships they are currently enduring. Of course I suggested taking some of the bread to them as well.
It may seem as something very simple...trivial...a loaf or two of bread. But in reality, the sharing of something so ordinary with someone who is in need...that's where it becomes extraordinary! The bread that this woman took home and then shared with another family was a vehicle to let that family know that others care. We don't need to know their exact situation. We don't even need to know their names. We just know that there is a family in need and that we have an abundance of bread.
I am pleased that there are opportunities when resources can be shared...however, there is an underlying issue here that saddens me. Actually...there are several issues.
There shouldn't be situations such as this where an abundance of food is dangling precariously on the line between usefulness and landfill. Food insecurity is an issue for so many people...not just in far away lands...but here in our own communities.
And I probably don't know enough about the entire process of food production...but I'm going to go out on a limb and say that some of the actual retail price configuration factors in the amount that may end up being wasted. Companies aren't going to want to "eat" that loss.
So...what can be done to change this? (you knew there would be a question/challenge in here somewhere, didn't you?)
In reality...I think there is much that we can do...far beyond simply partnering with local food resource organizations in making sure that the abundance doesn't become dumpster-filler.
So I want to hear from you...the faithful reader... What are your thoughts? What are your suggestions? How can we work together to feed the hungry...to drive down food prices, making it available for those who really need it? And ultimately, what are we doing in our communities to work toward a day when places such as the Green Harvest Food Pantry are no longer needed?
How can we...how can YOU make that change?
No comments:
Post a Comment