Can you spare a dime?

by Lynn D

I am writing this after having spent most of Wednesday at the food bank. As you all know that is where I am a weekly volunteer. I do this for a myriad of reasons but mostly I started because I wanted to help give back to my community in a meaningful way to me.

I had a very trying day there and came home with a somewhat heavy heart after my shift. I guess I was feeling a little hopeless and like I was just not doing enough. I very seldom share my experiences there because I figure no one really wants to hear about them. Even at times my own family, I don’t know if this is a defense mechanism, which is what I strongly suspect because most of us have so many worries that we just don’t want to think about other people’s problems.

Today I am going to share 3 stories with you because I can’t get them off of my mind.

I have been the intake person for the last month on Wednesday’s at our food bank. That means I work the front desk. I check people in and assess what food services they need from us that week. I also sign up new people coming through our doors. This week we had many new people but the three stories I am sharing really stood out in my mind.

A couple came through the door and right away let me know that this was the first time ever for them to come to a food bank let alone ask for assistance. I could tell they were very embarrassed to be asking for help. Well part of my job is to make them feel at ease and to help them through the process. I am proud to say that we as a food bank have very firm rules about not making people feel uncomfortable or about being judged. This is not true at all food bank facilities.

Anyway we progressed with the paperwork portion and the poor woman kept stressing how sorry she was to be there asking for food. As I listened to her she shared her story. She had just gone through a very lengthy and nasty divorce, it even involved stalking by the Ex, the process had left her in financial uncertainty and she realized that even though she works that the money she makes is not going to stretch for the next couple of months. I then found out that the man with her was her brother who moved in with her and her 2 children to help her with the mortgage payment so she would not lose her home. It came down to a matter of asking for some help or being able to afford gas to go to work. I tried to put her at ease and explained our process and sent her off to the different areas to get food for her family.

The next man right behind this woman was also new. I handed him the intake paperwork and had him fill it out. I then checked everything like always and started to go through the same process with him. There is a spot on our paper work where we ask what day they will be coming in whether it is Wednesday or Saturday, the two days we are open. When I asked him to check one of these days off he looked at me and said this will be the only time I come in. Well that made me pause, I looked at him and said,”You are always welcome here, If you need help please come see us. We are here to help everyone in our community.” I could tell by looking at him that yes his pride was hurting by the prospect of asking for help. Yes he too had a job a job in construction that had hit a slow down because of the housing and real estate market.

The last story is about one of our regulars that comes in and really he does not take much just enough to get by for the week. Well he was about done and heard someone ask about dog food. Yes we are very fortunate that we have a local animal shelter bring us tubs of dog food and kitty litter to share with our clients. I had just finished telling the person who asked how much they could take, when the other gentleman said to me “I did not know that you had dog food may I take some?” I said of course and told him how much he could have. He turned to me when he was finished and said “This is a god send, that will be five more dollars I can put in my gas tank.”

I finally had a slow down at the desk and went to check on people. The first woman I told you about spotted me and came over to tell me how much she appreciated that we did not make her feel like we were all looking down on her for being there and that we helped her through this process that was so difficult to even take the first step and come through our doors. Yes Shirley I reached out and hugged her, much to my surprise. I could tell she was so sincere and that it was heartfelt.

I am telling you all of this because those three people stayed with me all day. I came home and that night I watched Joe Bidens speech at the DNC and this is what resonated with me. He said and I am paraphrasing "Working in this country should be about dignity not just about getting a paycheck." We should be able to go home and tell our children that everything is all right, that we will be fine." It hit me from that phrase and his talking about people around their kitchen table talking about what bills can we pay? Will we be able to pay the heating bills for this winter? Etc…. That I am seeing this every week at the food bank. People are making tough choices and these are people who are working! They are trying like hell to make the money stretch and it only goes so far. They are loosing ground at an alarming rate and I keep staring it in the face. For the last 6 months at the food bank I have watched the lines get longer and people who thought they would never be in this position swallowing their pride and asking for help.

It strikes me that our Politicians, the John McCain’s, the Barack Obama’s and the Joe Biden’s anyone on the campaign trail needs to set aside time to visit local non-profits and to stop and talk and to really see the people in those lines! I see the elderly, I see the middle class, I see the single parents, and yes the downright poor. Oh there are always some that abuse any system and yes I see them. My reality is that those people have children and I cannot turn them away or make an issue over it for the sake of the innocents involved.

Really if anything I have learned to separate my judgments and preconceived notions at the door. If I didn’t do that it would drive me crazy.

I don’t have anything to ask you, I just needed to share. Take what you need from this blog and leave the rest. Thank You my friends for your time.


This video was added because Carol asked me for a picture to go with my blog. After much searching I found this on youtube. This was put out by PBS in April 2008. Conditions are worsening as of August 2008.

Everything in this video speaks to what is happening at our local foodbank. More people, bigger demographics, less food, less available dairy, eggs etc... More working people. We are the canaries in the mine. We are trying to get the word out while still keeping some food available. It really could be you or me.