I had this odd idea for my next book. My agent wasn't sure my editor would go for it. My editor wasn't sure he'd go for it, either--but in the end he said he trusted me and to go ahead and try it. (I turned in the book this week, so I'm not sure he's read it yet. If you're reading this, Tom, I'm still biting my nails.) And no, I'm not dropping a spoiler, either.
Anyway, this particular book needed a LOT of research. Part of that research was on food pantries. It just so happens, that our very own Doranna has a connection with a food pantry. For years her Mom has been on the board of the food pantry right up the road from me. Doranna brokered a meet and greet, and I was given a wonderful overview of the Greece Ecumenical Food Shelf and their sister charity, The Clothing Closet.
As it happens, I've donated to this very food shelf a number of times and didn't even know it. The Craft Antique Co-Op, where I used to have a booth, is a drop-off point. (Go, Co-op!)
Doranna's Mom gave me lots of inside info on how the Food Shelf operates. To be honest, I was overwhelmed. When I left I gave her a check for the Food Shelf. That was in June. In the meantime, a lot of people have lost their jobs and their homes. There are a lot of hungry people out there. Just this week, the local paper ran a story on the local food pantries and how giving has not only dropped, it's plummeted--both in food and monetary donations.
Also in the news, was a story about cleaning out your closets. Oy! Our closets were bursting at the seams. So, it seemed like a good time to go through everything. I went through three closets here and helped my Mother go through her walk-in closet. The net result was we had bags of good clothes to donate to the Clothing Closet, and more than I'd like to admit still had the sales tags on them. Yes, never worn shirts, blouses, sweaters--brand new and taking up space.
Yesterday, I took a trip down the road and dropped off the clothes and a check to the Food Shelf. I was extremely disheartened to see the changes at the Food Shelf. Where there was a wall of boxes of food ready to be delivered in June--yesterday there were none at all. Mondays they deliver food to hungry families, and there were no boxes assembled and ready to be delivered. (I left as they were unpacking and sorting what they'd collected in the past week. Still--was there enough to meet the needs of my community? I'm extremely doubtful.)
The holidays are approaching. As as character in Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol said, "At this festive season of the year...it is more than usually desirable that we should make some slight provision for the poor and destitute, who suffer greatly at the present time. Many thousands are in want of common necessaries; hundreds of thousands are in want of common comfort."
Those words were written one hundred and sixty-five years ago. Sadly, some things never change.
Please don't be like Scrooge and dismiss the needs of the hungry in your community. Especially now. If you intend to spend hundreds of dollars on the holidays this year--perhaps you'll think about diverting a few dollars to those less fortunate than yourself. You can make a difference.
(P.S. Don't forget that many pet owners are among the working poor. Feel free to donate cans and bags of dry pet foods to your local food shelter, too.)