Yesterday at our first day (since mid-June) of our Wednesday program, we provided a hot meal for approx. 90 people, from babies (I don't know if they were included in the count) to seniors. We usually expect about 50 - 60, and prepare for a few extra.
We gave out $20 voouchers for the local grocery to the first 35 people, and these people also visited my tables of non-perishables donated by the congregation. I tried to ration carefully - a choice from the green table (cereals, peanut butter, cheese whiz, canned ham), two from the yellow table (canned beans, soups, cookies, crackers), some garden produce, odds and ends, then the table with tampons, tooth brushes and paste, soap. We quickly ran out of cheese whiz - that's a favourite. We had requests for school lunch supplies (I did have a few that I doled out to families), diapers (none), babyfood (none), tea aand coffee (only what we served with the meal.
The meal is served every week and, so far, we never turn anybody away (yesterday when we saw the numbers the kitchen people quickly slapped together more sandwiches to serve with the hot meal - I only got a half-sandwich before the rush, and a rice-chrispy square at the end.
People only receive a voucher and a visit to the pantry tables once every three months - we'll give out 35 or so voouchers to different people next week, and bi-weekly after that. Over 500 people receive food vouchers in a three month period. But from the posts above you can see how little a $20 vooucher will buy. We all wish that we could do more - perhaps give each person a voucher every month. Ideally, with adequate job creation, less part-time, on-call work, and a better assistance program, we would only have to serve as an emerency service, rather than something people have to depend on to keep hunger at bay.
'For I was hungry and ye gave me something to eat ...'
