My GS co-leader is also the person in charge of our local food pantry.  They had so many new people come to the last food pantry day that they ran out of food.  Her husband went to the local stop-and-rob and bought food (with his own money) to help those in need….but, they still ran out and all he could do was close and lock the door.

Our Girl Scouts are helping out for Christmas, with donating children’s books so parents can give their child(ren) the gift of reading as gifts.  The girls will also be making “mom and dad” gifts so that the children who come with their parents can perhaps choose a gift to give to them, too.

But, it’s FOOD the pantry needs, not just Christmas gifts.

The local school did a canned food drive contest this past week – gathering over 800 cans of non-perishable food.  I emailed the principal, to find out where the food was going, and he informed me it was going to the food pantry over in our county seat.  Not here.  Not locally, where the children who actually gathered and donated the food will have immediate access to it.  No, it’s going 30 miles away. 

We have approximately 2000 people who live in our little community.  Also in our school district is the Medina Children’s Home, which I’ve spoken of before.  It has two programs, one consists of group homes that have eight children in each parented home.  The other is the single mother’s and children’s portion, where they help to give a lift up for single mothers and their kids.  I’d venture to say one-fourth of these population numbers and half of the school children live at the Home.  So, removing those numbers from the population count, if you figure a family consists of 2-4 children, probably some grandparents, too – then I would guess we have about 250 families in the area.  At *least* 15% of those are needing the LOCAL food pantry right now (they can drive to our county seat to get food at that food pantry, but if they can afford the gas to drive that far, that’s less money they are using to feed their families).

And that doesn’t account for the holidays coming up, where the need always increases. 

Now, I’ve lit a fire under my MIL’s behind, and her church is rising to the occasion and asking for more donations of food and funds to help the food pantry.  Every little bit helps, that’s for sure – and, hey, we’re all in this together.  The more we help out those in need, the better chances that those children will grow up to be giving members of society in the future – just as I have.

I do not understand the school and their decision to send the food they collected out of the immediate area.  But, I’m not about to sit on my behind and do nothing about this problem.  Families, especially those with KIDS, are going hungry.  That is NOT RIGHT, my friends.

I pray that each of you are doing something for the communities you live in.  We don’t have much, but we will certainly do what we can to help out those who are in worse shape than we are.