Thursday, April 23, 2009

Magic

The food bank farm is a magical place. I have said this many times in the eight years I have worked there. Whether it is the magic that happens when a seed is planted and grows into food to feed a hungry person or the magic of a lost teen finding purpose in her life, there is magic. The magic happened again this morning when 100 three and four year olds from Sugar and Spice Pre-school visited the farm. The weather was warm and unusually calm for a spring day in Lubbock as two yellow school busses pulled up and one hundred little darlings came pouring out carrying pennies, nickels, dimes and a few quarters to throw into our wishing boat. We don’t have a wishing well, we have a wishing boat – home to about 25 koi fish that have learned to hide when small children throw money at them.

After our stop at the wishing boat we proceeded in a single file line, a very long single file line, to the opposite end of the farm where, in soil so soft the children sunk several inches, we planted green bean and pea seeds. One of the teachers asked me if we really expected the seed to grow, thinking of course my answer would be no. Farmer Roy overheard the question and answered for me, “Of course they will grow. When children plant something there is a magic that happens and it always grows.” So there you have it, straight from the farmer’s mouth – the food bank farm is a magical place!

Tuesday, April 07, 2009

Hunger Survey

OK... It's been a while since I've posted anything. I was talking to Jenifer Smith the other day. Jenifer has been helping out with our quadrennial hunger survey. We do it as part of a national survey conducted by Feeding America. The purpose is to give us a snapshot of the faces of hunger in the nation and here on the South Plains.

A couple of weeks ago, Jenifer went to interview clients at one of our agencies, St. Paul's on the Plains Episcopal Church. On Thursday morning, they host a Neighbor 2 Neighbor Breakfast for people in the South Overton neighborhood. South Overton is a once proud neighborhood that now is a crossroads for many homeless and low income people in Lubbock. Neighbor 2 Neighbor is a wonderful ministry that connects the church to the local community.

Jenifer showed up at 6:30 a.m. (which is no small feat in itself) to talk with clients and gather info for our survey. She spoke with a homeless gentleman, Jeff, who was coming by for breakfast. Although he is only in his mid thirties, Jeff's face is already weathered and lined from being outside so much of the time. Jeff is works as a day laborer on a steady basis. He lives "outside the library."

Part of the survey asks whether or not the participant has gone without food, has made choices between having medicine and having food, or skipped meals so someone else could eat. As Jeff responded to the questions, tears began to form in his eyes. As Jenifer put it, "They began to flood the lined channels of his face." As Jenifer shared the moment with him, tears formed in her eye. She found some tissue for him and her as they cried in silence.

Sometimes it never dawns on us... what our choices mean. Noha ben Shea says that, "Life is lived forward but understood backwards." Jeff never really thought about himself as homeless and hungry until that moment. And for the moment, all Jenifer could do was comfort Jeff and remind him of all the people in our community who care and try to help.

When Jenifer told me this story, she made a comment that stuck with me, " I wish I could wipe away his hunger as easily as I wiped away his tears."

Both Jenifer and Jeff were changed in this encounter. It's one of the the serendipties of the Food Bank that give us all a new awareness of one another and the possibilities of hope.