Wednesday, April 15, 2009

A beautiful day...

So, I am sitting here at On Rock, doing administrative stuff. Not my favorite, but its gotta be done. The phone rings and Pete tells me he has to run out and pick up a food donation. An hour later he arrives back with a van load of non-perishables, fruit and vegetables and some frozen food. It is amazing. On Monday, we depleted our stock in the food bank. We could not give an emergency box to a lady who asked because we had nothing to give. We were talking today about doing a food drive and getting that up and running, when the phone rings....

Pete is off to deliver that emergency food box. It's a beautiful day.

Peace,

K

Tuesday, April 7, 2009

I'm Sorry....

Rina walked in the other day. She is a petite woman with blond wispy hair and looks older than she is. Older than she should. Rina looks at me with sad eyes and asks me if we are still a food bank. I tell her we are. She looks down at the floor and apologizes for being here, but she has not eaten for 3 days and needs food. I tell her there is nothing to apologize for. We are here to help, and I offer her a coffee.

Rina tells me that she is a nurses aid that had to go on medical leave due to an injury. The injury re-occurred and CSST was holding out on paying her because they suspected she was faking. This lead to depression and a further inability to work. In order to pay the bills, she let her "boyfriend" move in with her. "Boyfriend" has a drug problem and spends the little money they have on drugs.

As we are putting a box together for her, she apologizes a few more times. She is expecting to go back to work soon, but it could be a few weeks. She apologizes again. This is a woman stripped of her dignity and embarrassed that she "allowed" herself to get "this low". I assure her that, she is not a burden, and we are pleased to help her. I tell her that our regular food deliveries are on Monday and if she needs any more help to call us.

Rina thanks me, with a sad look in her eyes and apologizes for the last time as she is leaving, "sorry for bothering you"........

It is a privilege to serve Rina.

Peace,

K

Friday, April 3, 2009

All in a days work...

We received a call yesterday from one of the schools we serve. A mother called the principal because she can't feed her kids. Her kids are a part of our school lunch program. She was desperate and emotional. Can you imagine, being in a place where you can't even provide for the basic needs of your loved ones. How gut wrenching that must be. So, the principal called us to see what we could do.

We were able to supply her with a pretty decent food box that should keep the family going for the rest of this week. It is an amazing feeling to be able to contribute to people and organizations in need in our community.

As many are aware our Wine Tasting fund raiser is in the works. We have already sold 50% of the tickets, and they haven't been printed yet. This promises to be another fun night!

Peace,

K