In 2001, I volunteered at the Sky Valley Food Bank in Monroe. It’s open three days a week for two and a half hours each day. A typical day saw 70 to 90 families seeking food. The days before Thanksgiving and Christmas saw well over 100 families come through.
The volunteers who serve at the Food Bank restore one’s faith in humanity. Many of these volunteers have served for over 10 years, often two or three days each week. The volunteers have made the food bank a central part of their lives. Every week I saw a combination of grittiness, cheerfulness and respect of the customers. And this from volunteers who were 20, 30 and 40 years older than me.
My job was to unload boxes and cases of donated and purchased food, place the food on shelves or in the freezer or cooler, move the food out to the store front where customers could pick it up and help customers carry their food to their cars, bicycles or whatever. It was vigorous work, but it was good work.
The food bank needs more volunteers to do what I did, or to distribute food to customers or to work in the office. They also need conations of food and (even better) money. Our food bank spends up to $6,000 each month to purchase basic food items.
Food banks may or may not be the best way to address the problem of hunger in America and here in the Sky Valley. Until something better comes along, however, we need to contribute our money, food and time to make sure our food bank meets the growing problem of hunger that is all around us.
Monroe
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